Aspen's Bluff: Tripping Over Fools
by Sophia Conrad
Summary: Claudia Brown is gone and Cutter is reeling because nobody but Aspen remembers her. Now things are slipping, and death is looming on the horizon for one of the team; unless Aspen can step in and fix things. Whether it's dodging Leek, comforting Cutter, or keeping Connor out of trouble, Aspen will have her hands full. Not to mention her encounter with Becker. 2nd in Aspen's Bluff.
1. Chapter 1: Brain Freeze

**Tripping Over Fools**

**Sophia Conrad**

**2.1: Brain Freeze**

* * *

_"I said it was beautiful, I didn't say it was friendly..."_

_― Nick Cutter._

* * *

In a busy bowling alley, at a local shopping mall, a group of loud and giggly teen girls were set up by a lane. One of the girls stepped up, took aim, and let loose a very good shot that knocked down most of the pins.

"Yes!" The teenage girl shouted as the pins dropped into the pit and the ball went through the tunnel. When the ball didn't return, she frowned. Unseen by the public eye, an anomaly opened behind the machinery at the end of the lanes. The girl's bowling ball rolled down a dry, dusty hill on the other side of the anomaly, and was stopped by a foot. The foot in question, was a large scaly foot that a rather menacing looking claw attached to it.

Later on, the mall was eerily quiet. The escalators still ran, but the place was empty, save for the security guards who sat in the security office, monitoring the empty building.

"Quiet night?" A security guard named George asked, walking into the booth holding a cup of tea. One of the screens showed a bowling ball rolling down the gutter, but it was rolling the wrong way.

"What the…?" The other security guard, Clive, said as he caught a glimpse of something rushing by one of the security cams.

"Spoke too soon. Probably kids." George said, and picked up a torch and radio from the desk, before heading out. He walked through a room full of pool tables and video games, and then down into the bowling alley. George crouched down by the bowling pins, shining his torch into the darkness behind them. There was a snarling sound.

"Alright, fun's over." George said, expecting a group of unruly teens. No such luck. A half eaten pin rolled out of the pit to next to rest next to his foot. Back in the booth, Clive watched him on the CCTV as he scanned for any sign of movement. He peered at the screen. The radio next to him squarked. It was George.

"I need back up, we've got an intruder." George told him, and so Clive left the office to assist him. Back in the bowling alley, George was testing the identity of the intruder.

"Don't make me come in there and get you." He said, as if he were talking to a set of unruly teens. He walked down the corridor behind the lanes, looking for the intruder. The torchlight fell on a large scaly tail. It was a raptor. Undetected, George kept moving forward. As he got closer, the light caught on the raptor's left eye. It leapt at him, and with a single, pain-wrought scream, George was no more. Hearing the scream, Clive came running, stopping quickly when he heard the screeching of the raptor. He shook his head, and continued down the access corridors as the screeching continued. He managed to reach the doors to the main mall before the raptor caught up. He hung onto the corner of the wall in an attempt to escape, but it was no use. The raptor claimed its second victim of the night.

* * *

Miles away from the shopping center, in the clearing in the Forest of Dean, the last rays of the suns light dappled across the ground. Cutter stood in front of the pulsing anomaly, trying to process what he had just been told.

"Oh my god." Cutter said, as he realized what had happened; that time had changed, that Claudia no longer existed. He stood with his back to the fluctuating anomaly, facing the group, his face frozen in shock. An unconscious Helen still lay at his feet, the occasional muscle spasm causing her to tremble. Connor's compass, held firmly in his hand began to settle.

"It's closing." Connor told them, looking down at the instrument he held. Only then did the others notice the anomalies erratic behavior. Cutter turned, saw the anomaly beginning to close and lunged forward in an attempt to pass through it. Stephen and Connor were faster though; both grabbed hold of him and hauled him backwards, away from the anomaly.

"No." Stephen said, hanging on to his friend tightly.

"No, no, no. No, I have to go! I have to make things right!" Cutter protested, trying to pull away from Stephen and Connor, desperate to go through the anomaly.

"Don't be stupid, you'll get marooned there." Stephen told him. Cutter broke free, only to trip over the unconscious Helen. The anomaly closed, and Cutter's face crumpled. Standing up, Cutter turned to Stephen and Connor, panicked.

"No. Something's happened. Something's happened while I was in there. Something's changed. The world's evolved differently." Cutter told them, trying to communicate his distress. Behind him, Lester finished a phone call, and began to walk away, back to the car. Cutter ran after him.

"No, no, Claudia Brown." Cutter muttered, and grabbed hold of Lester's shoulders.

"Claudia Brown, she's been with us since the beginning, she was in charge of the day-to-day running of the anomaly operation." Cutter said desperately.

"No, that's Leek, Oliver Leek. You can't have forgotten him, you saw him at the ARC this morning." Lester told him, confused by Cutter's actions.

"The what?" Cutter asked, totally lost.

"The ARC. The Anomaly Research Centre." Abby said, looking worried.

"No, no, you mean the Home Office." Cutter objected.

"No, we moved from that place ages ago." Abby said. Aspen stood in the background, feeling uncomfortable as she mentally tried to sort through the new memories, and catch up to recent events.

"Sorry, is he having a nervous breakdown? Anyhow, I've got a meeting, so if someone could call an ambulance…" Lester said flippantly, heading toward his car.

"He's fine." Abby told Lester, holding onto Cutter. Lester got into his car, before turning back.

"Oh, and if someone could retrieve Professor Cutter's wife from the ground. I'd like her to be in lock-up as soon as possible." Lester called to the soldiers. Cutter looked like he had been punched in the gut. His knees gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

"Getting a little old for imaginary friends, Professor." Lester said before leaving. Aspen walked toward Cutter, and helped him up off of the ground.

"I'm so sorry Cutter. But the Claudia Brown that we knew is gone." Aspen told him quietly.

"You mean, you remember her too?" Cutter said, pleadingly. Aspen sighed as the others turned to look at them, curious.

"She's an echo, Cutter. She's like footprints on the beach, and the tide is coming in." Aspen said, and the look on Cutter's face broke her heart. Behind them, Connor snorted.

"Really? You're going to start quoting Doctor Who now?" He muttered. Aspen threw a stone at him and he dodged it, but understood the message: _'Shut up'_.

"But... I just spoke to her. It wasn't even half an hour ago." Cutter told her, his voice cracking.

"I'm sorry Cutter, she's gone." Aspen said steering him toward the 4x4, and into the passenger seat. Stephen climbed into the driver's seat and they drove off. Abby and Connor climbed into her worn, beat-up Jeep with her and they followed them back to the ARC.

In no time at all, the team entered the ARC, heading to the locker room that was adjacent to a small kitchen area, some of the soldiers were already changing in the locker area. Stephen, Connor and Abby all went in different directions – Stephen to get a drink, Connor to his locker for a skateboard, and Abby to the kitchen. Aspen stood with Cutter in the middle of the corridor, unwilling to leave around, Cutter spotted a locker with his name on it. He walked down a corridor, followed closely by Aspen, passing people along the way.

"Evening, Professor." A lab technician said, as she walked passed Cutter, who was looking around in amazement. Aspen guided him through a set of double doors, into the main room of the ARC. Soldiers patrolled on the balcony, and Lester walked over to a man wearing a suit, before they walked down the ramp together to meet Aspen and Cutter.

"What have we got?" Lester asked the man next to him.

"New creature reports. An intercepted emergency call at the Castle Cross shopping mall. A security guard screaming something about a monster." He replied, handing the report to Lester.

"A shopping mall? God help us." Lester said, looking upwards, as if to plead his case with a higher power.

"I've instructed the police to stay out until we've investigated. Oh, Professor, glad to see you back well and safe. Although I gather your wife won't be joining us. She's been put in one of our holding cells until further notice." The man-in-a-suit told them, Aspen's new set of memories supplied her with his name: Oliver Leek. Cutter wasn't so lucky though.

"Who the hell are you?" Cutter asked, and Aspen dug her elbow into his side. Behind them, Abby and Connor entered the room. Abby walked off to the side, but Connor was watching the conversation intently.

"Oh, yes. Professor Cutter's suffering from some kind of stress related amnesia. He seems to have forgotten, well, pretty much everything really." Lester told Leek flippantly.

"No, I haven't forgotten a thing. Wish I could." Cutter said, his words sharp like barbed wire.

"Now he's being enigmatic as well. What a vivid repertoire." Lester told Leek sarcastically, before turning back to Cutter.

"You're really telling me you don't know who this man is?" Lester asked. Cutter looked to the side, where Connor stood watching, a worried look on his face. Cutter turns back to Lester and Leek.

"No, of course, it's Leek. Oliver Leek. I know exactly who he is." Cutter bluffed, pulling the most plausible name from earlier. Whether Lester bought it or not, wasn't clear.

"Is this some kind of industrial action, or did no one hear that we have a creature sighting in a shopping mall." Lester shouted to the team in general. Stephen walked into the room, and held the door open.

"Guys, come on." Stephen said, and walked out again, clearly impatient. Abby followed him, but Connor hung back with Aspen and Cutter.

_"Cutter's always been eccentric, but I'm beginning to think he's just plain deranged."_ Lester could be heard saying.

_"Well, I suppose all brilliant men are a little bit unusual, sir." _Leek replied.

_"I'm brilliant, Leek, and I'm not the least bit unusual." _Lester's voice grew fainter as they moved further away.

"You didn't have a clue who Leek was then, did you?" Connor asked Cutter, as they walked down the hallway.

"Nuh-uh." Cutter said.

"Okay, you're officially freaking me out. Let me get this straight. You're saying that something's changed because of what happened in the Permian anomaly? Like evolution has just, what, altered course?" Connor asked, slightly lost.

"Glad somebody was listening." Aspen muttered, and jogged off to join Abby and Stephen, confident that Cutter was fine with Connor.

"You believe me?" Cutter asked, amazed.

"All right, I'll buy it." Connor told him.

"I could kiss you, Connor." Cutter said.

"That's really sweet, but maybe not while those people are watching." Connor joked, and then paused.

"One thing, though. How do I know I'm different? When I don't know what I was like before?" He asked Cutter.

"Apparently some people never change." Cutter chuckled, and walked off to catch up with the others.

"Is that a bad or a good thing?" Connor asked him, slightly confused. Cutter didn't answer.

* * *

The drive didn't take that long, and soon they were setting up in the underground parking lot of the shopping mall. Cutter stood away from them, while Abby and Stephen discussed the tranquillizer doses, Connor watching them closely. Behind them, Aspen put a new battery pack into her EMD, and checked the settings.

"What are we using?" Stephen asked Abby who opened the case of tranquillizing solutions.

"Ketamine phenyl." She told him, and then said:

"But it would help if I knew what size creature we were dealing with. I've had to guess at the dosage." Stephen nodded, and Abby handed him the cartilages to load the guns.

"Where's my gun?" Connor asked, annoyed. Abby and Stephen shared an amused look.

"Abby's got one." Connor protested, and Stephen snorted.

"She knows how to use it." Stephen told him.

"How many animals have you tranquilized?" Abby asked, already knowing the answer.

"I've played darts. You know, sometimes I think you don't trust me with firearms." Connor told them huffily. Stephen suppressed a laugh.

"Don't know what gives you that idea." He said wryly, and ignoring Aspen's glare, he turned to Abby.

"You ready?" He asked her, and she nodded.

"Yeah." They closed the equipment cases, and walked over to Cutter, Connor in tow.

"Hey Connor!" Aspen shouted, they turned and Connor fumbled, nearly missing the miniature EMD that Aspen had tossed him. Abby and Stephen stared at her, surprised.

"What?" Aspen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I trust him. Consider it a _'Just in case'_." She told them, and Connor grinned, and slipped the lightweight gun into his pocket.

"So what now?" Stephen asked.

"We go in." Cutter told team walked down a corridor, the end of which was blocked by a solid metal shutter. As they reached it, there was a banging noise, and they raised their weapons. The shutter lifted to reveal the Manager on Duty.

"Who are you?" Cutter asked.

"Duty manager." The manager replied, looking nervous when he saw the guns still pointed in his direction.

"Tell us what happened." Stephen said, lowering his gun. The manager walked toward them.

"We got an emergency call from one of our operatives. We haven't been able to raise him since." He told them.

"What did he say?" Cutter asked peering past the entrance. The manager looked uncomfortable.

"He didn't really say anything, he just sort of screamed." He told Cutter, looking rather sick.

"Did you see anything in there?" Cutter asked him. The manager shook his head.

"I want you to close these shutters behind us, and I don't want you to open them again until I tell you it's safe, because whatever happens, it mustn't get out." Cutter told the manager, who looked scared.

"What mustn't get out?" The manager asked. Cutter walked into the shopping center, and the other's followed. The manager pressed the button to close the shutter, and then paused for a moment.

"Hang on, who the hell are you lot?" He shouted after them. Cutter and Stephen walked through the central area of the shopping mall, Aspen a few steps behind; Abby and Connor walked a little further behind her.

"Are we okay?" Stephen asked, sticking close to Cutter like a burr on a sheep.

"About what?" Cutter asked gruffly, avoiding the topic.

"Can't ignore what happened." Stephen said, ignoring Aspen's motions for him to shut up.

"Oh, you mean the fact that somebody I knew has disappeared from the world, and Aspen's the only other person who can remember?" Cutter said sarcastically.

"Stephen, if you're looking for an explanation, I'm a little bit busy." He continued grumpily. Behind them, Abby and Connor exchanged uncomfortable glances.

"I don't blame you for being angry." Stephen said.

"Forget about it." Cutter told him, as they walked into the empty security booth.

"Don't you hate it when people bring their personal lives to work with them?" Connor asked Abby jokingly, and winced when Aspen slapped him over the head.

"Ow!" He hissed, and hurried to sit down in front of the CCTV screens. The others peered over his shoulders.

"Can you get any closer?" Cutter asked Connor, who did his best to comply.

"Come on, show us what you are." Cutter muttered under his breath. The image of the raptor flashed across one of the screens.

"What's that?" Cutter asked.

"Not sure." Connor said, and rewound the video. He paused it, and they all stared at the sight of the raptor.

"Cretaceous era, theropod dinosaur. Genuine article." Cutter identified it right away.

"Raptor. I always thought we'd get one someday." Connor said, half nervous, half delighted.

"It's beautiful." Cutter muttered.

"Is anybody else getting a major Jurassic Park flashback, right about now?" Aspen asked, unnerved. They all jumped back as one of the cameras went offline, attacked by the raptor and the screen switched to show only static.

"I said it was beautiful, I didn't say it was friendly." Cutter told her, and she suppressed a shiver. They walked as a group toward the bowling alley before Connor split off from the back of the team and went back in the direction they had just come from. Abby followed him. Ignoring them, Aspen followed Cutter and Stephen down to what looked like a boiler room behind the bowling lanes. Cutter ducked as a spanner flew past him, and into the anomaly.

"Gets me every time." Cutter said, looking at the anomaly.

"You think the raptors have gone back through?" Stephen asked him.

"When was life ever that simple?" Aspen muttered, before turning to go find Connor and Abby. They weren't hard to find, all she had to do was look for the slushy machine; Connor was as predictable as a small child. She watched from the balcony above as Abby chided Connor.

"Oi! Hope you're going to pay for that." Abby said, and Aspen smirked.

"Yeah, if you can lend me a fiver." Connor said with a cheesy grin. Abby pulled out her wallet, took out a fiver and handed it to him with a shake of her head.

"Thank you, Abby." Connor said. Abby walked away as Connor put the lid on his cup, Connor's head shot up at the sound of glass hitting the floor, and he turned to see a raptor investigating the now-broken gumball machine. Aspen frowned, and turned her head, freezing when she realized what he was looking at. The raptor began to chew on the spilled sweets as Connor slowly backed away. Abby turned around, her mouth open as if to ask a question, and saw Connor backing up.

"Abby!" Connor hissed.

"What?" Abby asked, wondering what was going on.

"Close the shutter." Connor instructed her, trying his best to be invisible.

"Okay." Abby said, and ran to close the shutters. The raptor looked up, and saw Connor who looked terrified. He had obviously forgotten all about the tiny EMD in his pocket.

"Abby, quickly." Connor said, frantic. Abby pressed the shutter button just in time, and the shutter began to descend. The raptor screeched, and lunged at Connor, who bolted.

"Run, Connor! Connor, run! Come on!" Abby encouraged him. Connor ran as fast as he could, the raptor not far behind, knocking over sweet stands as it followed him. Thinking quick, Connor spun on the spot, and chucked the slushy at the raptor mid-spin and carried on running, before sliding under the shutter to safety. The raptor rammed into the shutter, and the sound called Cutter and Stephen to them.

"Oh, I hate that." Connor muttered, raising a hand to his head.

"What?" Cutter asked, worried.

"Brain freeze from the slushy." Connor said, still wincing. There was a screech and another thud as the raptor rammed the shutter again. Stephen raised his gun again.

"Phew." Connor said, relieved.

"Right, go check the atrium, make sure we can contain her." Cutter told them, turned, and then froze.

"Where's Aspen?" He asked, and Stephen went pale.

"She went to find Connor." Stephen said, sounding strangled. On the other side of the shutter the raptor screeched again and there was the sound of Aspen's EMD discharging. A dull thump rattled the shutter, and they nervously opened the shut up to see Aspen standing on the balcony with her EMD raised, and the raptor unconscious on the floor in front of them.

"You know what?" Aspen said,

"I really _really_ don't like raptors." The team couldn't help but laugh, and ran up the nearest escalator to join walked through one of the upper levels of the mall; Cutter and Stephen in front, Abby and Connor in the middle, with Aspen bringing up the rear.

"We need more firepower. This is a raptor." Stephen said, looking around in case of any surprise attacks.

"I've just lost a friend because we interrupted nature once too often and I don't intend to let it happen again." Cutter said sharply, causing Stephen to frown.

"You're sure you're ok?' Stephen asked him. Cutter stopped, and Stephen turned to look at him.

"Under the circumstances, I'd say I was doing pretty well." Cutter told him. Before anything else could be said, a hissing sound echoed down the hall. Cutter held up a hand to stop Connor and Abby.

"Whoa. Abby, give me your gun. Stay here." Cutter commanded, and walked down the hallway, Stephen close behind.

"You're good? Go." Cutter said. They lunged around the corner; weapons raised, and froze when they found a cleaner.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't shoot." The cleaner protested, raising his hands. Stephen lowered his gun, and the cleaner turned his machine off.

"Abby, Connor, get this guy out of here." Cutter told them, and handed Abby her gun back. They did as they were told and led away the protesting cleaner. Just then, Stephen's phone rang.

"Hello?" Stephen said into the phone.

"Where else is he going to be?" Stephen said sarcastically, and passed the phone to Cutter.

"Lester wants to know what's going on." Stephen said, and Cutter took the phone.

"We've got a confirmed anomaly and one very angry raptor." Cutter said dryly.

* * *

Back at the ARC, Lester paced along the balcony as he spoke with Cutter. Leek trailed behind him, holding a short stack of papers.

"I'll put armed back up on standby and tell the owners there's been a security scare. They'll have to stay closed as long as it takes." Lester told Cutter, and turned to Leek.

"Leek, has the concept of personal space ever been explained to you?" Lester asked the shorter man, who held out the papers apologetically.

"Sorry, sir. It's from the Ministry, and it is marked Top Priority." Leek told him.

"A 'Private Sector Public Relations Manager'. What am I supposed to do with one of those?" Lester asked, reading the memo with an air of disgust.

"The minister thinks we need more help with the media. He feels that the situation is kind of getting out of hand." Leek told him, and then hurried to add:

"His words, sir, not mine."

"The last thing I need is some greasy PR supremo sucking up to the press. This isn't a reality TV show." Lester grumbled, before speaking into the phone to Cutter.

"Let me know the minute it's safe to re-open, and keep in touch. You know how I worry when I don't hear from you." He told Cutter, hung up and turned back to Leek.

"A raptor in a shopping centre, how am I going to explain that to the owners?" Lester asked, before reconsidering.

"I think a PR person might not be such a bad idea after all." He said as they walked into his office.

* * *

**01.01.2013 **_**This story is dedicated to LizzieXX, who was my inspiration for parallel's.**_

**AN: I promised myself that I wouldn't write until the new year, but the 28th came, and I found myself diving right in. Okay, so maybe I was avoiding my grandpa, but he was getting snarky. Then he had the gall to take a dig at my dedication to writing. Grrr...**

**Why did they leave the raptor? Because Aspen's EMD could drop a charging Rhino, and it's a safe bet it'll be out for an hour or so.**

**Any queries about Aspen's Bluff should be directed to:_ aspenwilder at gmail dot com_**

**Right, so reminders:**

**1) Arguing With Time has been spell-checked, and packaged into a PDF. I'm proof-reading it tonight, and making some final adjustments to it. It took me a while, but I've managed to make it so it has a full cover, a disclaimer, a page of contents, that are linked to the chapters. eg - Click on the chapter and it's go right to it. It also comes with the little / buttons that has for moving between Chapters. I'****m so proud of myself!**

**2) Read and Review! I want an excuse to give out virtual cookies. :)**

**3) Well, there was no 3. I just got bored. Actually, wait no - I'm editing Arguing With Time because my sister pointed out that the scenes jump about a tad erratically. She's never actually watched the original show, so she's helping me smooth things over.**

**4) I won't be updating steadily for the first few weeks or so, because I have exams coming up. My Bio exam is on the 9th. Ack.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Name: **Aspen Faith Wilder,

**Nicknames: **"Penny", "Penn", "Asp".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Family:** Marie Wilder [Mother - Deceased], Jacob Wilder [Father - Deceased], Annabelle Irwin [Aunt], Cousin [Unnamed - Spoilers], Connor Temple [Surrogate Brother], Nick Cutter [Surrogate Father], Adoptive Brother [Unnamed].

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD _(The origins of this weapon are unknown.)_

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple.

**Enemies:** Future Predators, Helen Cutter.

**Abilities: **Aspen is an expert marksman. _(This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)_

**Disabilities:** Asthma (triggered by smoke), recovered from PTSD (allegedly).

**Fears: **Abandonment, Fez's, Red Alarm Klaxon's, Future Predators. _(Reasons are implied, but not confirmed.)_

**Incursions handled to date:** Gorgonopsid (1.1), Coelurosauravus (Rex, 1.1), Scutosaurus (1.1), Arthropleura (1.2), Protosolpugidae (1.2), Mosasaur (1.3), Hesperonis (1.3), Dodo (1.4), Parasite (1.4), Pterosaur (1.5), Pteranodon (1.5), Future Predator (1.6).

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip in Anglesea, where she saw her parents die. After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt (Annabelle Irwin) and older cousin (Unnamed), who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

Later, she and Connor helped found the ARC along with Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, Abby Maitland and James Lester.


	2. Chapter 2: 87-6 FM

**Tripping Over Fools**

**Sophia Conrad**

**2.1: 87.6 FM**

* * *

_"These things are trying to make sushi out of us and we have to play nice, that doesn't seem fair!"_

_―Connor Temple_

* * *

"I haven't got my jacket." The cleaner said, as they went down the escalator.

"You can get it later." Abby told him, ushering him across the bottom floor and into one of the access corridors.

"I need my wallet and my keys." The cleaner protested, and so they went down to the locker room. Abby stilled, as she noticed the door to the room was open.

"Wait; did you leave that door open?" She asked the cleaner.

"What? I don't remember." He replied, thinking it over.

"Give me the gun." Connor said from behind them.

"What?" Abby asked, surprised.

"Come on." Connor begged.

"No." Abby told him firmly.

"Please?" Connor whined, not unlike a puppy.

"No." Abby told him, but she was wavering.

"It's just for a minute." Connor tested, and then switched tactics.

"You want to go in first?" He asked her. She sighed and handed him the gun.

"Thank you." Connor said, taking it from her. He ducked into the locker room, and began to check it out, acting as if he was in a James Bond movie. He looked absolutely ridiculous.

"Clear! Clear, guys." Connor called out to them.

"Connor, you're ridiculous." Abby told him, as she walked into the room.

"What?" Connor asked, walking over to Abby who was waiting for the cleaner to collect his things.

"I said you're ridiculous." Abby told him.

"What do you mean, I'm ridiculous. I'm just doing my job." Connor protested. Nearby, the cleaner opened his locker only to be attacked by a baby raptor that latched onto his throat. Connor and Abby lunged for the miniature raptor, but it fled under a bench that sat in the middle of the room.

"Shoot it!" Abby told him.

"All right. Fine. Got it, got it. It's fine." Connor said, trying to get a clear shot. The raptor wasn't complying.

"Come on." Abby fussed.

"It's not exactly staying still for me, is it?" Connor shot back.

"Shoot it, Connor!" Abby shouted.

"Got it, I've got it." Connor said, stressed. He fired the gun, and the dart lodged in Abby's leg.

"You idiot." She hissed, before collapsing.

"Abby, I'm sorry, sorry." Connor said, but Abby was already unconscious.

"Okay, I'm just going to have to do this. I'll be back with you in a minute, all right?" Connor told his sleeping team-mate, and reloaded the gun. He aimed, shut his eyes and looked away, before pulling the trigger. Either the raptor was terrible at dodging, or Connor was incredibly lucky. The dart struck home, and the small therapod slumped to the floor, already in dreamland.

* * *

In the laser quest arena, Aspen stood with Cutter and Stephen who were examining the damage done.

"Smashed clean off its hinges. It's big." Cutter said, as they walked through the space where the door had previously stood. A target dropped down, triggered by a set of motion detectors.

"Oh, I _hate_ surprises." Aspen hissed, proverbial hackles raised. They split up, each taking a different path through the darkened room. Cutter wandered through a doorway in the framework that made up the obstacle course, only to be surprised by the raptor from earlier. Somehow, it was awake again. It jumped down from where it had stood on top of the framework, knocking down pieces of the course as it did so. Stephen appeared from another of the makeshift corridors, and aimed his gun. The raptor leapt at him instead, knocking down one of the walls in the process. Stephen's gun went flying.

"Cutter!" Stephen shouted, pushing desperately against the wooden panel that the raptor sat on, pinning him to the floor. Cutter picked up Stephen's gun, and took aim_._

"In your own time!" Stephen grumbled, and Cutter fired but nothing happened.

"Shoot! Shoot the damn thing! Shoot it! Another target dropped down as Aspen appeared and scared the raptor off; Aspen took aim with her EMD. She fired, but missed, and the raptor whipped out of the room, its tail waving wildly as it did so. Stephen pushed the wooden panel off of him, and climbed to his feet rotating his shoulder as he did so.

"Are you all right?" Cutter asked him, walking over to him.

"The gun jammed." He offered as an explanation. Stephen walked out with a stormy look on his face as Aspen joined them, and she and Cutter followed him out of the arena and across the shopping center. On their way down, they passed through an electronics store where a series of radio's buzzed in the background. Stephen stopped suddenly, and turned to face Cutter.

"Now hold on. So you think that I would have just stood by and watched you get torn to pieces?" Cutter asked, angrily. Aspen backed up as Stephen frowned.

"Well, I guess that depends on how badly you can hold a grudge." Stephen said, referring to his disbelief over Claudia Brown.

"Yeah, you know, you're right. I do, I resent you. But if I wanted you dead, I'd have shot you myself." Cutter shouted, and turned to Aspen.

"I mean really, did you think that I didn't already know?" He asked her, and she flinched.

"Know what?" Stephen asked, looking back and forth between them confused. The image of a raptor flashed across the screens of the TV's in the store behind them, unnoticed by the team of three. Cutter shook his head, and passed the gun back to Stephen before walking off, stopping when he heard the crash of something breaking on the floor below. They looked at each other, and then bolted down the escalator to where a Home Design Store was. Inside, things were clattering to the floor and falling over. A garden parasol wobbled, and they turned their attention to it.

"Stephen." Cutter said, and Stephen raised his gun in tandem with Aspen. The raptor hopped along the top of a display case toward them. Aspen and Stephen both fired, but Aspen's shot went wild and nothing came out of Stephen's gun.

"Run." Cutter shouted, and so they did. Not long after, Stephen turned back to take aim at the approaching therapod. He fired again, but still nothing happened.

"It's jammed." Stephen said, a note of disbelief colored his voice. Aspen ran back and grabbed his hand.

"Well don't just stand there you idiot. Run!" She told him, and then pulled him down the walkway toward the descending escalator and down it after Cutter. The raptor leapt into the air and crashed onto the floor behind them. They hurtled down another escalator before looking back. By now Aspen had let go of Stephen, and he turned to go back up the escalator.

"Stephen, wait there." Cutter said, and the raptor bunny-hopped over Stephen to land between them. Aspen stood behind Cutter, her EMD momentarily forgotten as the raptor advanced. Behind the raptor, Stephen raised his gun again. It appeared that the saying 'Third time's the charm.' was true because the gun discharged the tranquilizer dart which hit home, momentarily piercing the raptor's hide before falling to the floor with a clatter. The raptor advanced on Aspen and Cutter, and then dropped like a stone.

"You all right?" Stephen asked Cutter.

"Yeah. You?" Cutter said, drama forgotten. Aspen rolled her eyes as the pair set themselves the task of moving the raptor. _Boys. _

"Look at it, just a perfect killing machine. Do you know, in a fair fight, mammals wouldn't stand a chance." Cutter said as they laid the sleeping reptile down.

"Well, speaking as a mammal, I'm all in favor of cheating." Aspen said, staring at the therapod warily.

"Yeah, about the gun… I was wrong." Stephen said, turning to face Cutter.

"Gee, you think." Aspen deadpanned.

"Never mind. So… so just forget about everything else." Cutter told him, turning away from the earlier conversation. They sat there in silence for a few moments.

"What was she like?" Stephen asked suddenly. Cutter and Aspen turned to look at him, confused.

"Who?" Aspen asked.

"This... Claudia Brown. What was she like?" Stephen said warily. Cutter looked thoughtful and opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, a voice rang out from the other side of the bridge.

"Professor? Guys?" It was Connor. They stood up and turned to see him at the end of the walkway, pulling a trolley. On the trolley, was Abby, fast asleep.

"What happened?" Cutter asked, staring at Abby, who was still down for the count.

"Um... I shot her. Collateral damage though, because I got the raptor, too." Connor said, sounding both apologetic and proud. Aspen smacked a palm into her forehead.

"You brought down a full-sized raptor on your own?" Cutter asked, disbelieving. Connor hadn't exactly been his first pick to deal with raptors.

"Yeah. He's nearly full-sized," Connor said, exaggerating.

"Is she going to be all right?" He asked them, looking down at Abby.

"What exactly did you shoot her with?" Aspen asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"The tranquilizer." Connor said, confused. Aspen sighed.

"Connor, why were you using the tranquilizer? You had an EMD in your pocket." She reminded him. Connor turned slightly pink in embarrassment.

"Oh..." Connor said. He really had forgotten all about it.

"She will have a nasty headache, but she should be fine." Stephen said, checking Abby over. Connor exhaled in relief.

"Well she better come around soon, because I'm going to need all of you to get the raptors back alive." Cutter told them, and Connor did a double take.

"Alive?" He squeaked.

"Yeah." Cutter confirmed.

"These things are trying to make sushi out of us and we have to play nice, that doesn't seem fair." Connor protested as Cutter walked off to retrieve the smallest raptor. Connor followed him reluctantly. They walked down the moving escalator and into the locker room.

"The cleaner was attacked, he was badly injured… I don't get it, he was right there. He was in a really bad way." Connor said, looking around in confusion.

"Well he must have recovered and got himself out." Cutter said uninterested, as he went to investigate the baby raptor.

"Yeah, and cleaned up after himself too." Connor muttered quietly.

"One raptor is a problem, two means we've got an infestation and god knows how many others are running around out there. I want you to take this back to the bowling alley and come and meet us over at the store." Cutter said, holding the small raptor by its tail.

"On my own?" Connor asked, scared. Now he was the one having the Jurassic Park flashbacks. Why did it have to be raptors?

"It's unconscious. You've got nothing to worry about." Cutter told him.

"What if it's just playing dead?" Connor asked nervously.

"Playing dead?" Cutter asked, skeptical.

"Yeah." Connor said, actually serious.

"Well, it's a cretaceous era predator, so this creature is pretty smart, so… yeah, he's probably… Watch out for that." Cutter said, hiding a smirk. He walked out of the door, leaving a worried Connor behind.

"Yeah. Really?" Connor shouted after him. There was no answer, and Connor watched the tiny therapod warily.

* * *

Two floors up; Cutter, Stephen and Aspen had cobbled together a make-shift sling from a set of sheets found in the Home Design store, and were using it to haul the raptor through the electronics department. As they passed the display of Radio's Cutter stopped, and turned to face the nearest appliance. The music it was playing was continually being interrupted by static noise.

"What does that sound like to you?" Cutter said, referring to the static coming from the radio display.

"Sounds like…" Stephen began.

"Interference." Aspen completed his sentence, and the three of them stared at the station display.

Quickly, they carried on dragging the sleeping reptile toward the bowling alley where the anomaly was. Not long after, Connor arrived and dumped the baby raptor next to the big one, which was still wrapped up in the sheet, its mouth tied shut with cable ties. He went back and pulled the trolley in too, Abby was still asleep.

"She's going to kill me when she wakes up." Connor moaned pitifully.

"Mmm-hmm." Stephen hummed his agreement, and then went to join Cutter in the security booth where he was reviewing the CCTV.

"The first security guard was attacked here, second one here, both attacks happened within seconds of one another, which means there's at least two of them." Cutter said, pointing to the two separate screens.

"We've only found one." Stephen said, his eyes scanning the small screens.

"Yeah." Cutter said, not noticing Connor walk up behind them.

"And a baby." Connor added. They jumped.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be looking after Abby." Cutter asked him.

"I thought Aspen was doing that." Connor said to Stephen.

"She went to the loo." Stephen told him.

"Look." Cutter said, pointing to one of the screens. The second raptor had just appeared.

_"_Oh, god. Abby." Connor said, going pale.

"Stay here; tell us where it's going." Cutter told him, and then left the office with Stephen. Connor picked up a radio.

"Right, stay here; tell them where it's going." Connor muttered, looking at the screens. The raptor didn't appear on any of them. Connor started to panic.

"Where's it gone?" He asked the empty booth, his voice going squeaky. On the CCTV screens, he could see Abby still asleep on the floor of the bowling alley, and Cutter and Stephen running full pelt through the mall toward her, but there was no sign of the raptor.

"Come on, come on. Where are you?" Connor muttered, praying for some sign, something that could help. There was a flash as the raptor passed a camera, and Connor picked up the radio.

"I can see it Cutter, it's on the level beneath you. I repeat, in the level below." Connor told Cutter over the radio, and on the screens Cutter and Stephen went down a set of stairs. The raptor had vanished once more.

"I can't see it, it's disappeared again. Where's it gone?" Connor said into the radio, and then lifted his finger from the control button.

"Oh, for crying out loud, how hard can it be to see a raptor in a shopping centre?" He muttered to himself, before stilling. He raised the radio to his mouth once more.

"Oh my god. Guys, it's heading straight towards the bowling alley. He's going towards Abby, you're going to have to be quick, he's moving pretty fast." Connor told them, panic coloring his voice. On the screens he could see Cutter and Stephen running as fast as they could. The raptor was ahead of them.

"Come on, come on, come on, guys, you can do this." Connor prayed. Cutter and Stephen reached the bowling alley. There was no sign of the raptor, and Abby was safe on the floor. Aspen sat beside her holding the EMD.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, and Cutter let out a sigh of relief.

"Connor, she's fine." Cutter said over the radio as Stephen prepped another dose of ketamine for the baby raptor who was beginning to stir.

"No, hang on, just wait a minute. There are three raptors; one of them is a baby, so the chances are they're a family unit. So maybe we don't have to go looking for daddy. 'Cause maybe this little fellow will bring him to us." Cutter stopped him, and they both turned to face the smallest therapod. Together, they chained the now wide-awake raptor to part of the glass-panel barrier, just as Connor arrived, carrying Abby's gun.

"That's right, you shout for your daddy." Cutter told the scared juvenile.

"Now let's just hope they're a close family." He muttered to Stephen who went to get in a good position.

"Where do you want me?" Connor asked, eager to help.

"I want you in there, with Abby. Go." Cutter told him, and Connor handed him the gun, before moving to sit beside Abby. At the same time, Aspen stood up and went to join Stephen who was hidden behind a potted plant and a rack of bowling balls. Cutter moved quickly, settling down on Stephen's other side.

The baby raptor began to make a noise that was a cross between a screech and a cough, it was a distress call. The other raptor heard it, and came running, calling a response. They heard the raptor before they saw it, when it jumped onto a nearby counter in an attempt to find the juvenile raptor. Behind the counter that the raptor had stood on, Abby was beginning to regain consciousness. Stephen took aim as it moved toward the smaller therapod, but everybody received a nasty surprise when it lunged forward and _ate_ the baby raptor. Apparently they weren't related after all.

"What's going on?" Abby asked as she stood up woozily. The raptor turned to look at her. Quickly, Connor leapt to his feet and grabbed her hand, pulling her backwards.

"I'll tell you later." Connor told her, as the raptor jumped up onto one of the pool tables, stalking towards , Stephen and Aspen stood up to take aim, but the ketamine darts seemed to have no effect, and Aspen's EMD chose the most unfortunate time to run out of power. She cursed, and started rooting around in her pockets for another battery pack. Quick on his feet, Connor grabbed a pair of pool cues and tossed one to Abby.

"Watch out!" Connor shouted. Cutter and Stephen reloaded, before taking aim once more.

By now, Aspen had realized that she had left the reloads for her EMD in the car, and was looking for an alternative weapon. She caught sight of the power plugs connected to a nearby game, and grinned. While Connor and Abby prepared to spar with the advancing raptor, Aspen lunged for the wall socket. She pressed the on switch, and the game nearest the raptor came to life, playing loud music and flashing its lights. The raptor let out a battle cry and launched itself at the sudden intruder, smashing into it and knocking it to the floor, before running out of the alley. Cutter and Stephen fired at it as it left, but nothing seemed to take effect.

"What just happened?" Connor asked, looking stunned.

"That's two doses of tranquilizer and it's still on its feet. We're going to have to up the amount." Cutter said, staring after the raptor. They left Abby with Connor and her gun, before heading down to the car park.

"They're too dangerous. We can't keep taking stupid risks." Stephen said angrily.

"Stephen, everything we do has an impact." Cutter told him.

"We've killed creatures before and nothing's happened." Stephen protested.

"Yeah, how do you know that for sure?" Cutter asked him.

"Look, maybe the strain of going through the anomalies has got to you. Maybe you only think these changes took place." Stephen said, having had enough.

"What? Do you think I dreamed Claudia Brown?" Cutter said, anger beginning to rise.

"The whole pattern of evolution changes, but just one person disappears? One person who happens to be a friend…" Stephen said.

"No, it's not that simple! The ARC didn't even exist before I left, there's a whole team of people in there that I've never even met. There may be countless other things, big and small, I don't know yet." Cutter told him, trying to make him understand.

"Then what does that make me? A liar?" Aspen asked from where she stood behind them. Stephen opened his mouth to reply, but a car alarm started to blare in the background, cutting him off. He reached into the case for another gun, only this one used bullets.

"Look, I'll only use it if I have to." He told them. Aspen huffed angrily, reached into the car to grab her reloads, and left for the security booth. She wanted to know where that raptor was.

* * *

Cutter and Stephen ran through the shopping center to where they had first entered from. The shutter that the duty manager had closed was mangled and torn. Something big had gone through there. The car alarm was louder now, and they rolled under the battered shutter and ran down the walkway to the secondary car park, where two teenage boys were riding motorbikes, two of their friends stood to one side. Cutter and Stephen ran over to them.

"Hey! Hey! Did you see an animal pass this way?" Cutter shouted to two of the boys, who were standing on the side watching their friends.

"A dog, a polar bear, what?" One of the boys, Charlie, asked.

"No, trust me; you'd know if you'd seen it." Cutter told them. They boys turned back to look at their friends, and a squawking screechy noise could be heard from the other end of the car park.

"We've got to get it back to the mall." Cutter told Stephen, and they ran to the pair of bikes that weren't in use. Quickly, they gunned the motors, and Stephen took point, chasing after the raptor that was at the other end of the car park.

"What the hell was that?" Charlie yelped as he caught a glimpse of the large reptile. Cutter scrambled for an excuse.

"Uh… A radio-controlled, cretaceous-era raptor, probably be in the shops by Christmas." He told them, before driving off after Stephen. The two of them proceeded to play Hide-and-Seek with the raptor. It leapt on to the top of a car, and then over Stephen who drove off. Cutter chased after the raptor instead. He popped a wheelie as the raptor charged at him, and kicked it in the face.

"Chase me." Cutter told the raptor. It did as it was told, and Stephen followed the strange looking pair.

"You've got to admit, that's pretty awesome." Charlie said, as he watched Cutter and Stephen try to wrangle the dinosaur.

"Pretty cool, but you could tell it was a model." His friend Mike said.

"Yeah, of course." Charlie agreed, and then shouted after Cutter and Stephen who were leading the raptor back into the center.

"Oi! What about my bike?" There was no response. Cutter and Stephen paused on the walkway inside, and the bike Cutter was riding stalled. He managed to get it going again, but changed his mind and abandoned it to follow Stephen into a glass elevator. The raptor stuck its nose in as the doors closed, but Cutter smacked it on the nose, not unlike what he would have done with a shark, and the raptor backed up. As the elevator... elevated, Cutter pulled out a hand-held radio.

"Connor, where the hell are you? We're on our way up to the second floor." He said into it, but there was no response. Somehow, neither he nor Stephen noticed that the raptor had been smart enough to latch onto the bottom of the elevator they were in and was riding up with them. When the elevator let out a ding, declaring itself to be on the second floor, they ran out of the lift and leant over the balcony to look for the raptor. The raptor, however, chose to jump up over the balcony on the other side of the lift. They backed up, as the therapod advanced on them.

"Look out, out of the way!" It was Connor, who ran out of the bowling alley, and shot the raptor. Miraculously, Connor managed to hit it the first time around. The dart had lodged in the raptors shoulder. It didn't seem to have any effect at first, but soon enough, the raptor collapsed at Cutter's feet. Stephen slid down to sit on the floor and the three of them let out a sigh of relief.

"I bet you boys are glad you gave me a gun now. Huh? Yeah." Connor said, grinning. He tried to twirl the gun as if he was in a movie, but almost dropped it. Cutter walked over to him and clapped him on the shoulder, before letting out a nervous laugh.

* * *

Later, Connor helped Abby down a set of stairs to meet up with the others. Abby winced with every step she took.

"Ow." Abby moaned as she took another step.

"How are you feeling?" Connor asked her, worried.

"Terrible." She groaned as she took another step.

"Do you want me to get you something? I could run and get you a glass of water…" Connor said, trying to make up for shooting her.

"Stop fussing, Connor, I'm fine." Abby told him sharply.

"Okay. You know, Abby, I want you to know something. If I was going to shoot anyone, you'd so be like the last person I'd shoot." Connor told her, and then added.

"Apart some my mother, obviously, and Aspen. But you'd be way down the bottom of the list with them. In fact I don't think I'd shoot any of you." If it was meant to be reassuring, Connor had missed the mark completely, because Abby didn't look very happy. She seemed more focused on the fact that Connor had started to play with the gun as he spoke.

"Can you drop this?" Abby asked, irritated.

"Yeah." Connor said, and lowered the gun.

"Can you move the gun out of the Abby area?" Abby said, eyeing the gun with distain.

"Sure." Connor agreed, and pointed it in the other direction.

"Thanks." Abby said, and walked past Connor down the stairs that led back to the boiler room. She was still limping.

"Go, I've got your back." Connor said, and Abby rolled her eyes. At the bottom of the stairs, lay the pair of sleeping raptors on a trolley. Abby sat down next to them, and began to feel their bone structures, ever curious.

"What can you feel?" Cutter asked her.

"It's strange. His bone structure feels more like a bird's wing than anything reptilian." She told him, and he smiled at her, before standing up and moving to wait in front of the anomaly. Connor joined them in the small room, and moved to stand near Stephen, eyeing the trolley full of vicious predator warily.

"So, guys, let me get this straight. All we have to do is drag two of the angriest creatures in the known universe, through a hole in time, back into an ancient world where we don't know what's waiting on the other side for us." Connor asked, uncertain.

"When you put it like that it sounds so easy." Stephen said.

"I'm going to do this on my own." Cutter told them.

"We'll help." Abby volunteered.

"Who's we?" Connor asked, and Abby gave him _the look_.

"I didn't say I wouldn't. I just prefer it if I could do my own volunteering. Thank you." Connor told her, grumpily.

"Look, I'm going to do this on my own. I don't want any arguments." Cutter told them, and then turned to face the anomaly.

"Connor." He called, and Connor moved to join him. Behind them, Abby and Stephen shared a look.

"How long have I got?" Cutter asked, and Connor did some quick calculations in his head.

"Uh… I don't know. You know, it's so hard to say. Ninety percent of the anomalies are gone within hours; this one's been here most of the night already." Connor told him, unsure.

"Come with me." Cutter said, and took him up to the electronics department. The radios were still intermittent with static.

"Okay, what I want you to do is to tune every one of these radios to 87.6 on FM." Cutter told him, and together they returned the radios. As they went along, the static became louder until an eerie pulse became

"Now, doesn't that sound strange to you?" Cutter asked, indicating the pulse.

"Interference. Why?" Connor noticed it right away.

"Come on." Cutter said, waiting for it to click.

"You think it's got something to do with the anomaly." Connor realized. Cutter nodded.

"It could just be a technical problem at the radio station." Connor pointed out.

"Well then I want you to get onto that and find out." Cutter told him.

"Sure. But if it is the anomaly that's causing this that means there could be radio interference on this wavelength any time that one opens." Connor said, thinking hard.

"Which would explain why Helen was always one step ahead of us. She must have some kind of receiver to spot them." Cutter realized.

"We could build our own detector, something that traces the anomalies within seconds of it appearing." Connor added gleefully.

"If the interference stops when the anomaly disappears, the maybe we're onto something. Now, if I don't make it back this time, Connor, it's down to you." Cutter told him, and walked away to join the others. Connor sat down to wait.

* * *

Down in the boiler room, Cutter picked up a gun. He looked it over, and put it down before choosing a different one. Behind him, Abby was going through an equipment case, looking for the tranquilizer dosages. Stephen had left to find Aspen.

"Cutter, I've been meaning to ask you, this Claudia Brown, what was she like?" Abby asked, as she gave the raptors a second dose of tranquilizers.

"What does it matter? I mean, to you she never even existed." Cutter told her gruffly.

"Tell me anyway." Abby said, putting down the empty ketamine bottle.

"She was okay. Good at her job, loyal. Team player. Not as tough as she pretended to be, but she was strong when it mattered." Cutter answered, swallowing thickly as he thought of the woman he would never see again.

"She meant a lot to you?" Abby asked.

"Yeah." Cutter said, turning away.

"I'm sorry." Abby told him.

"What for?" Cutter asked, turning back.

"That I didn't know her, and 'cause you lost her. I want to believe you. I really do. But it's hard." Abby said sympathetically, as Stephen and Aspen rejoined them.

"I know." Cutter said sadly, and pushed the trolley forward to stand in front of the anomaly. On the trolley, the pair of raptors lay with Cutter's jacket and a gun.

"These two won't be asleep for much longer. Okay, this is as far as you go." Cutter told them, and then pushed the trolley forward, stepping through the anomaly after it. Stephen made to follow him, but Aspen pushed him back.

"Maybe you should let me handle this." She told him, and then walked through the gap in space and time. It was an odd sensation, Aspen thought, walking through time.

She emerged on the other side of the anomaly, and was treated to a tremendous view of a rocky valley from atop the small hill. At the bottom of the hill, she could see Cutter. He cut the ropes holding the raptors, and picked up his jacket before walking away, clearly not intending to return to the present day.

"Don't leave." The wind carried her voice to him, and the quiet environment made it easy for her to be heard. Cutter turned around as she walked down to join him.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Cutter told her, with a straight face. She stared at him, disbelieving, until he started to twitch.

"All right, I know exactly what you're talking about, but so what? Maybe it's for the best." He told her. Aspen studied him contemplatively.

"You can't bring her back, you know." She told him.

"Look, I figure if I travel through enough anomalies, then maybe I can fix it, maybe I can change things back the way they were." Cutter said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"And if there's no way back? What if this world is the only one there is? Look around you, you'll die out here." Aspen pointed out, gesturing at the rather dry-looking landscape.

"I don't want to die, I just want to try and make things right." Cutter told her.

"Okay. Suppose you do change things. How do you know that she'll still be Claudia? Time isn't a toy." Aspen chided him.

"I know! I just…" Cutter tried, but trailed off. Aspen watched him with a sympathetic look on her face.

"You could change a million things and still not get Claudia back. All you know, is what's happening right here, right now; and right now, I need you to stay." She told him, and he looked up sharply.

"You're the closest thing I have to a Dad, and I can't lose anybody else. Not now." She said softly. Cutter sighed, and hung his head.

"You're right." He said, and Aspen held out her hand.

"Let's go home." She said, and he took the smaller hand. Together they made their way back to the anomaly, which was beginning to waver.

"Is it just me or is that anomaly closing?" Cutter asked, and they started to run up the hill. Behind them, the sheets that had once held the raptors flapped in the light wind. Cutter looked over his shoulder upon hearing the sound of the fabric snapping back and forth and swallowed as he saw the raptors racing after them.

"Go!" He shouted, and Aspen dove through the anomaly. On the other side, Stephen and Abby helped her up.

"You all right?" Connor asked from where he stood on the other side of the small corridor.

"Where's Cutter?" Stephen asked, and Cutter came tumbling through the anomaly to land at their feet.

"The anomaly's closing." Connor announced, sounding relieved, and then a raptor's head came through the anomaly. It latched its teeth into Cutter's boot, determined to have the Scottish man for dinner. Abby and Stephen also grabbed hold of Cutter, anchoring him in the present day. Quick as a flash, Aspen drew her EMD and fired. This time, she didn't miss. The raptor screeched and fell back through the anomaly, which pulsed once more, and then closed. The team let out a shared sigh of relief.

"I am never, _ever_, watching Jurassic Park again." Aspen said, staring at the spot where the raptor had vanished.

"Agreed." Cutter said shakily.

"I am." Connor said cheerfully, happy now that the danger was gone. Aspen turned to glare at him.

"Shutting up now." He said, raising his hands in surrender.

Half an hour later, the team had dispersed to do their separate jobs. Stephen had gone with Abby to put away the equipment needed, and clear up what they could – ergo the evidence of them having been there. Aspen was busy in the security booth, arranging for the police to come and retrieve the bodies of the guards, if they could be found, and wiping the security tapes for that night. Connor sat with Cutter in the electrical department. All the radios were back to normal and static free now that the anomalies were gone.

"Well, you were right. It was the anomaly causing the interference." Connor said, as they looked around at the Radios.

"Yeah. We don't have to sit around waiting for the creatures any more. We'll know the anomalies are open before they do." Cutter said, relieved.

"Now all we have to do is find out what's causing the anomalies in the first place." Connor said, with a smile.

"That might take a wee bit longer." Cutter told him wryly.

"Yeah." Connor agreed, and Cutter walked away to phone Lester.

* * *

"The place is clean and the anomaly's gone, you can give the all clear." Cutter informed Lester, over the phone.

"Excellent, we'll handle it from here. Oh, good work by the way. It could have been very nasty." Lester said.

"Indeed." Cutter agreed.

"Yeah, you deserve a rest and a chance to recover. Take an hour. No, let's not be mean. Take two. I'll see you back here at nine." Lester said, all business.

"Forget it; I'm going home to bed." Cutter told him.

"Well, there's someone I'd like you to meet. A new member of the team." Lester said, baiting him.

"Who?" Cutter asked, not really sure if he wanted to know.

"Oh, some sort of PR wizard. Basically he'll be our cover-up specialist. Protecting the public from what they don't need to know, that sort of thing. An unpleasant job, but it has to be done." Lester told him flippantly.

"Fine, whatever." Cutter conceded the battle, and hung up.

"What's this?" Lester asked, ad Leek walked into his office, a file of papers clutched in his hands.

"Revised details on the new recruit, sir. It seems that the new man is not actually a man." Leek said, setting down a manila folder on the desk.

"Hmm. Her qualifications impressive enough, anyway." Lester mused, looking over the file. Two and a half hours later, Cutter dragged himself into the main room of the ARC where the rest of the team was already waiting.

"Morning." Cutter said, nodding to Lester.

"You're late." Lester told him.

"So fire me." Cutter grouched good-naturedly, as he passed Lester to join the rest of the team.

"We can all dream." Lester said wryly.

"Well, now you're finally here, perhaps we can get going. Ah. Well." Lester said, as a woman walked into the room, her impractical high heels clicking on the floor with every step.

"Hello." She said with a smile.

"I'd like you all to meet your new colleague. This is Jennifer Lewis." Lester told them. Cutter turned around, and froze when he saw the woman who stood was a crash behind him, as the coffee mug that Aspen had been holding fell to the floor.

"That's not possible." Aspen said, staring at Jenny as if she'd seen a ghost. Which in a way, she had.

* * *

**03.01.2013**

**AN: So we had a father-daughter moment, well sort of, between Cutter and Aspen. She's slowly, but surely building herself a new family… again. "Again?" You ask. Well, it's a long story – Oh look, I'm writing it. Sorry, you'll just have to wait and see. Have fun.**

**Questions? Well, you might as well know that Cutter is in fact aware of Stephen having slept with Helen. In my version, he figure out that she was having an affair years back, but not with who. He only clued in on it being Stephen recently. This will be sorted out in the next few chapters.**

**Any queries about Aspen's Bluff should be directed to:_ aspenwilder at gmail dot com_**

**Right, so reminders:**

**1) Arguing With Time has been spell-checked, and packaged into a PDF. I'm proof-reading it tonight, and making some final adjustments to it. It took me a while, but I've managed to make it so it has a full cover, a disclaimer, a page of contents, that are linked to the chapters. eg - Click on the chapter and it's go right to it. It also comes with the little / buttons that has for moving between Chapters. I'****m so proud of myself!**

**2) Read and Review! I want an excuse to give out virtual cookies. :)**

**3) I'm editing Arguing With Time because my sister pointed out that the scenes jump about a tad erratically. She's never actually watched the original show, so she's helping me smooth things over.**

**4) I won't be updating steadily for the first few weeks or so, because I have exams coming up. My Bio exam is on the 9th. Ack.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Name: **Aspen Faith Wilder,

**Nicknames: **"Penny", "Penn", "Asp".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Family:** Marie Wilder [Mother - Deceased], Jacob Wilder [Father - Deceased], Annabelle Irwin [Aunt], Cousin [Unnamed - Spoilers], Connor Temple [Surrogate Brother], Nick Cutter [Surrogate Father], Adoptive Brother [Unnamed].

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD _(The origins of this weapon are unknown.)_

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple.

**Enemies:** Future Predators, Helen Cutter.

**Abilities: **Intelligence, Music, Aspen is an expert marksman. _(This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)_

**Disabilities:** Asthma (triggered by smoke), recovered from PTSD (allegedly).

**Fears: **Abandonment, Fez's, Red Alarm Klaxon's, Future Predators. _(Reasons are implied, but not confirmed.)_

**Incursions handled to date:** Gorgonopsid (1.1), Coelurosauravus (Rex, 1.1), Scutosaurus (1.1), Arthropleura (1.2), Protosolpugidae (1.2), Mosasaur (1.3), Hesperonis (1.3), Dodo (1.4), Parasite (1.4), Pterosaur (1.5), Pteranodon (1.5), Future Predator (1.6).

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip in Anglesea, where she saw her parents die. After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt (Annabelle Irwin) and older cousin (Unnamed), who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

Later, she and Connor helped found the ARC along with Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, Abby Maitland and James Lester.


	3. Chapter 3: Ghost Stories

**Tripping Over Fools**

**Sophia Conrad**

**2.2: Ghost Stories**

* * *

_"Next time I say take the stairs, take the stairs!"_

_― Nick Cutter_

* * *

"I'd like you all to meet your new colleague. This is Jennifer Lewis." Lester told them in his usual, bored tone of voice.

"Jenny Lewis. Nice to meet you." Jenny said with a smile. Cutter stood with his team by the table in the middle of the room, shocked. On the floor, the contents of Aspen's coffee mug began to seep through her shoes. Lester stood with Leek and Jenny across the room.

"Miss Lewis has been appointed to a senior position on the team. That means she answers to me, and you lot answer to her." Lester told them, in an attempt to garner a reaction.

"I didn't think we answered to anybody." Stephen said.

"Scientists." Lester sighed with an air of disappointment. It was not quite what he had been hoping for.

"It's quite all right, James. I'm used to working with creative people. Please, do all call me Jenny." Jenny told them, and stepped forwards.

"Claudia." Cutter said hoarsely, stepping forward. Aspen winced. She had completely forgotten about Claudia's doppelganger.

"My name's not Claudia." Jenny said, in an apparent attempt to give Cutter the benefit of the doubt. Aspen tugged on Cutter's sleeve.

"Claudia Brown." Cutter said again and stepped forward.

"I think you're confusing me with somebody else." Jenny told him, and behind them Stephen exchanged looks with Connor and Abby.

"No, I know that you think that your name's Jenny Lewis, but you're actually a woman called Claudia Brown. There's a good reason for this, I can explain it." Cutter told her, assured. Behind him, Aspen had started motioning for Connor to do something. Lester was rolling his eyes.

"Yes, meet Professor Nick Cutter. A fascinating study of the tipping point between inspiration and lunacy." Lester informed Jenny, who looked rather unnerved.

"Is everything all right, Professor?" Leek asked, but Cutter ignored him, moving closer to Jenny.

"I know this sounds insane. But you're a woman called Claudia Brown. Just listen." Cutter insisted, ignoring Leek. It seemed that Connor had finally gotten the message because he stepped in.

"The anomaly detector, Professor, you remember. You said that we should talk about it. Could we do that now?" He asked, and Cutter turned to walk with him, Aspen following close behind.

"It's Claudia Brown." Cutter told him.

"I know." Connor said, causing both Aspen and Cutter to stare at him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Cutter asked.

"Seriously?" Aspen wanted to know.

"I know that's what you believe. Me, I've never seen that woman before in my life." Connor told him.

"What's going on?" Cutter asked, lost.

"Come on, Professor, you can't go flaky on us now. I mean, it's nearly 12 o'clock, and we're probably going to have to save the world again before bedtime." Connor groaned.

"It's all right. I'm okay." Cutter reassured him. Connor didn't look entirely convinced.

"So, no more of this Claudia Brown stuff. At least until you can… You can figure out what's going on." Connor told him, and walked away.

"I don't understand." Cutter told Aspen.

"Me neither. But you've just scared the piss out of that poor woman. Go and apologize!" She chided. Cutter did as he was told and moved to join Lester and Jenny.

"Miss Lewis, please accept my apologies. It wasn't my intention to frighten you." Cutter said in a sincere tone. He was either a really good actor, or part lizard, Aspen decided.

"No problem." Jenny said with a smile, and then turned to the more immediate matter.

"Now perhaps one of you can tell me what I'm doing here." She asked. Lester led them into his office.

"Your job is to come up with cover stories. In essence, that means convincing people that they didn't see what they actually did." Lester said, cutting right to the point.

"Keeping the public ignorant is the Government's top priority." Leek told her.

"Nicely put, Leek." Lester actually seemed surprised.

"Dinosaurs? Oh, come on. What's this about really?" Jenny asked, looking around as if she might find a prank-cam.

"One thing I can promise you, Jenny, this job's quite unlike anything you've done before." Lester told her flatly.

"Oh, I doubt it. When you've been in PR a long as I have, nothing much can surprise you anymore." Jenny told him with a smirk. Lester hid a snort of disbelief. Oh how wrong she was.

"Take Jenny down to Human Resources to finish the paperwork." Lester told Leek, who lead Jenny down the ramp and off into another part of the ARC.

"Classy. Very classy." Lester muttered to himself.

* * *

In an office building in the Greater London area, a sales team was preparing for a big day. A young blonde woman named Shelley on the 14th floor would be making a very important pitch in the next hour, one that was very important. One of her teammates stopped to stand next to her, near the lift.

"All set, Shelley? Feeling good?" Her co-worked, Terry, asked her as he walked alongside her.

"Fine, thanks, Terry." Shelley said, with a smile.

"Well, I hope so. It's only five million quid and all our jobs on the line. Actually, let me rephrase that. That's five million quid and your job." Terry told her snidely.

"No pressure, then?" Shelley said with a nervous laugh.

"Nothing goes wrong today. And I mean nothing." Terry told her and they walked to the lift together.

The interesting thing about this particular building was that if you went through the ventilation shafts next to Shelly and Terry, up a floor, took a right, a left, left again and then came out of the second junction on the right, you'd end up in a server room. Now server rooms are usually boring, but this particular one was special. This one contained an anomaly that leaked copious amounts of a strange, cloudy fog. There was something else though; something had come through the anomaly. Something large and long and scary was creeping through the fog, and it sounded hungry.

There was a short ping as the lift opened to that floor, and a maintenance man walked out of the lift carrying his bag of tools. He walked through the fog, and opened the door to the server room, and caught sight of the glittering anomaly. Something moved in the fog behind him, and then he was dragged down into the smoke. His screams echoed through the floor.

* * *

On the floor below, the video conference had started, and Shelley stood with her team, pitching a business deal to a Japanese man named Mr Nagata.

"Lambert Smith has a proven track record in the premium drinks arena. Our aim is to make the Nagata brand the best-selling Japanese beer in the UK market within the next three years." Shelley told the Japanese group.

"Make two… make it two years." Terry muttered from beside her.

"Two years." Shelley hastily corrected.

"We believe this product has wide appeal to younger women in the upper income groups." She continued. In the background, the fire alarm began to blare.

"Oh, no, don't stop now, Shelley. Get to the good part." Terry encouraged, in an attempt to protect the deal.

"Is something wrong?" Mr. Nagata asked, as the fire alarm blared over the video link.

"No, it's just a fire drill, Mr Nagata. It'll stop in a minute." Terry lied through his teeth, motioning to Shelley to continue.

"As I was saying, our campaign will focus on the young…" Shelley launched into the full sales-pitch, ignoring the alarm the desperately begged the employee's to leave. Outside the room the fog billowed menacingly. Around them, the office continued to evacuate, and two firemen entered the building to investigate. The 15th floor, which housed the server room, was now filling with copious amounts of the strange-smelling fog. Ignoring the fog that billowed around their knees, the pair of firemen walked to the server room and pushed the door open, ignoring the fog that was billowing around their knees.

"What's that smell?" The senior fireman asked his younger colleague.

"Smells like sulphur. There's no fire in here." She replied, looking around, and stilled when she saw the anomaly.

"What's that?" She asked, nervous. Her partner looked over to see it.

"I have no idea." He told her, and she stepped forward to approach the anomaly.

"Chief…" She asked, as she stared at the glowing light. There was no answer. She turned around, only to find that her colleague had vanished.

"Chief?" She asked again, worried. All of a sudden, he lunged up out of the smoke and grabbed hold of her shoulders. He was covered in slime.

"Get out of here… The fog! Get out! Run!" He shouted, before being dragged back into the fog.

"Chief!" The firewoman screamed.

* * *

On the floor below, the videoconference continued.

"…and we're planning a bold and innovative campaign, featuring internationally known celebrity girlfriends." Shelley finished, smiling prettily. She sniffer the air for a moment, and then leaned down to Terry.

"Can you smell something?" She asked him quietly. The microphones seemed to be supersensitive, because Mr Nagata heard her.

"Smell?" He asked, and Terry attempted to stall for time.

"One moment, please." He said, motioning to Shelley.

"Perhaps you would like to look at some mock-ups, Mr Nagata." Shelley said, and pushed a button. A series of adverts appeared on the screen, cutting off Mr Nagata.

"Well, do something." Shelley told him, her voice took on a whinging note.

"All right, I'll go and see what's going on." Terry sighed. He got up and walked to the door. Shelley and the IT man followed him. Outside the glass walls, the fog swirled eerily.

"We're on fire?" Shelley asked, forgetting that the fire alarm had been rung.

"What is that?" Terry asked. He opened the door, and the team of three immediately began coughing due to the noxious fumes.

"We should evacuate!" Shelley cried out, and Terry held up a hand to quiet her.

"I'll go and get help, just stall him" He told her.

"What?" Shelley asked, sounding horrified. Terry walked out of the door and into the fog, holding a sleeve to his mouth. Shelley and the IT man watched him go. There was a thud as Terry was hurled back against the glass window, now covered in a horrid looking slime. There was a pause, before he was dragged back into the fog again.

* * *

At the ARC, Cutter stood with Lester and Leek in Lester's office, explaining his theory on radio-waves. They had successfully distracted Jenny with meeting the other employee's.

"Every time an anomaly opens, it gives off a burst of radio interference. Now, we didn't spot it before, because we weren't looking for it." Cutter told them.

"And you can build a machine that detects this interference?" Lester asked, intrigued.

"It's the same as trying to track down a pirate radio station." Cutter told him.

"Then we can also develop a handheld detector to work within short distances." He added, grinning.

"And we'll be able to spot the anomalies as soon as they open?" Leek asked.

"Well, yes. That's the idea." Cutter said.

"Will it be expensive?" Lester asked, ever the civil servant.

"Only if we do it properly." Cutter told him. Lester frowned.

"I think this is something we should consider, sir. Seems to be our most significant breakthrough to date." Leek said, with the solidity of a wilting plant as Lester focused his gaze on him.

"Yes, I do understand the implications, Leek." Lester said.

"Fine, tell Leek what you need, and he'll see to it." He added, catching sight of Cutter's hopeful gaze.

"Well, I want Connor to supervise the work, though." Cutter told him firmly.

"All right, but he reports to Leek." Lester conceded.

Half an hour later, Cutter sat at his desk watching Lester and Jenny who were having a converstaion nearby. The resembelance between Jenny and Claudia was uncanny. He climbed to his feet and walked over to join them just in time for Leek to come rushing in.

"Report in from the city. Looks like a new anomaly, sir." Leek informed them.

"It's a fire. It's nothing to do with us." Lester said flippantly.

"We've intercepted mobile calls from inside the building, and there's a lot of chatter about foul-smelling gases, and a possible creature sighting." Leek reported and Lester sighed wearily.

"What kind of creature?" Cutter demanded.

"Erm, no information on that yet." Leek said, looking uncomfortable.

"Creature?" Jenny asked as she walked up behind them. Cutter swallowed, hard. As luck would have it, an intervention came in the form of Stephen, who stuck his head through the door.

"Should I call the others?" He asked, and Cutter sighed - grateful for the distraction.

"Have them meet us there." He said, and hurried out of the door before Jenny could ask any more questions.

* * *

Not knowing about the anomaly, Connor and Abby had headed down to the video rental store to pick out this week's movie. It had almost become a tradition for the three of them, as Aspen always joined in to add a third vote.

"No, no, no, no, no, no…" Connor moaned in frustration as Abby kept selecting mushy comedy romances.

"I think you'll find it's my choice tonight, Connor." Abby told him with a grin.

"What are you talking about? You chose last week." Connor protested.

"Mmm, do you really think I would have chosen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? No." Abby told him.

"Oh yeah – That was Aspen." Connor agreed. Abby rolled her eyes.

"How about something romantic for a change?" She asked, trying to focus.

"Romantic?" Connor sounded like she'd suggested he eat a pint of manure.

"Yeah. How about Holiday? Yep? That looks nice." Abby said, pulling the DVD from the rack.

"Really? That's like my worst nightmare." Connor whined. Abby threw her hands up in the air.

"I don't know. You know what? I'm going to go home. You choose." She told him, and stalked off.

"Yeah?" Connor asked hopefully.

"Yeah. But no horror, no action, and definitely no sci-fi. Bye!" Abby told him.

"Aspen's been through enough this week – so _nothing_ with monsters in it!" Connor wrinkled his nose, as he remembered the events on the Forest of Dean.

"Okay. Bye!" He said as she walked out of the shop. From the side, an olive-skinned woman named Caroline was watching him as she browsed the shop. Once she was sure that Abby was gone, she approached him. Connor jumped in surprise as she spoke.

"Hostel, classic. Good choice. But this… this is really good." She told him, picking up a different selection. They shared a smile, and Connor dropped the DVD he was holding.

"Sorry, just… Have you seen this one?" Connor asked, holding up a DVD quickly, not looking at the title.

"It's not bad. I preferred the original." Caroline said, eying the DVD case.

"Me too." Connor agreed.

"You know, I don't really feel like horror tonight. I feel like something a bit more…" Caroline trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"Erotic… romantic!" Connor said, trying to replace the filter between his brain and mouth. Caroline laughed.

"Fantasy, sci-fi, something like that. You couldn't recommend anything, could you?" She asked him, and he grinned.

* * *

Abby was feeding Rex when Connor arrived with Caroline. She watched as he lead his new friend up the steps and into the main room.

"Abby? Um, this is Caroline." Connor introduced the pair.

"Wow, Um... Hi." Abby said, clearly surprised.

"What is that thing?" Caroline said, clearly worried by the small reptile.

"That thing is my lizard." Abby said defensively.

"That's… that's Rex. He's harmless. He's really cool, actually." Connor said, eager to please.

"Hello, Rex." Caroline said, reaching out a hand. Rex nipped at her, and she jumped.

"Oh, I'm sorry. He's not… he doesn't normally do that. Bad lizard. Bad Rex." Connor said, embarrassed as Rex glided off.

"I suppose he's just doing what his instinct dictates." Abby said blithely.

"Erm, I've invited Caroline around to watch this DVD with us. You don't mind, do you?" Connor said, pleadingly.

"Only, Connor and I were having such a good time. He's really funny, isn't he." Caroline said.

"Yeah? Yeah." Abby answered, looking rather freaked out.

"So, are you two a couple, then?" Caroline ventured.

"Me and Connor? No. God no. He's my best mate's brother." Abby said dismissively, and started to walk away. Connor went after her.

"You don't have to make it sound quite so unlikely." Connor told her, sounding hurt.

"Who is she?" Abby wanted to know.

"Don't know. She picked me up at the video shop." Connor said with a grin. Abby stared at him in disbelief.

"She picked you up?" Abby asked him.

"Yeah, a lot of women find me attractive." Connor said, and Abby continued staring. It was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." Abby said quickly.

"Look, I think she really likes me, so don't mess this up for me, okay?

"Okay." Abby said, shrugging. At that moment, both of their mobile phones began to ring.

"Oh." Abby said, surprised as she picked up her phone. The Caller ID was the ARC.

"Why does it have to be now?" Connor groaned.

"Aw…" Abby said sarcastically.

"Not funny." He said grumpily, and turned back to Caroline.

"Caroline, hey. I am so sorry, but something's just come up. I'm going to have to go in, it's work." He said apologetically. In the background, Abby was doing her best to hold back a gleeful snicker.

"Shame. Do you have a pen?" Caroline mused, sounding not very sad at all.

"A pen? Yep. Uh… we have pens, mmm-hmm. Ah!" Connor said, locating a pot of pens on a nearby desk.

"Here you go. Hurrah. Loads of pens." Connor said, and held the pot out to her. She pulled out a biro, and took his hand, scrawling her number onto his palm. Abby looked on in shock. This was new.

"Here's my number. Call me." Caroline told him, as Aspen came rushing up the stairs. She stopped short when she saw Caroline, and coughed to get Connor's attention.

"Time to go." Aspen said, and Connor nodded following Abby to the door. At the bottom of the steps, Connor stopped to say goodbye to Caroline. In those few seconds, Abby sidled up to Aspen.

"Who's the new friend?" Aspen asked her quietly. Abby nodded.

"Her name's Caroline. Says that _she_ picked him up in the vid store." Abby told her, eyebrows raised. Aspen nodded, staring at the olive-skinned woman.

"How did Rex react to her?" She asked, and Abby held back a snicker.

"He didn't like her." Abby told her with a smile.

"Good. She's trouble." Aspen muttered, and the conversation stopped when Connor ran over to them. They piled into the beat-up blue Jeep and headed off.

* * *

Outside of the offices of Lambert Smith, Cutter and Jenny arrived in Cutter's 4x4. At the base of the building, Firemen were directing the office workers out of the area.

"You don't really expect me to buy all this stuff about dinosaurs?"

"Honestly? No." Cutter told her, looking at her again.

"Can you stop doing that please." Jenny asked.

"Doing what?" Cutter said, confused.

"Staring at me." She said, with a strange expression.

"I'm not allowed to look at you?" Cutter said bewildered.

"Not like that." Jenny said shortly.

"Like what?" Cutter wanted to know.

"Like you know me." Jenny told him, irritated.

"See, I feel like I do know you." Cutter told her, ready to explain about Claudia Brown.

"You don't, because if you did, I would be aware of it, wouldn't I?" Jenny said.

"Oh, no. Not necessarily." Cutter said, thinking back.

"Lester told me you were odd." Jenny mused as the walked up a set of steps.

"Don't put too much faith in anything Lester says." Cutter said grumpily.

"I don't see why not. He seems like a very impressive man." Jenny told him.

"You're right, I probably don't know you." Cutter said, disgusted. They reached the police cordon, and Jenny flashed a badge that made a policeman let them through. Before they could go any further, a fireman stopped them.

"You can't come in here." The fireman, Sam, told them

"Sorry, this is a matter of national security. Can you ask all your men to withdraw until I give the all clear?" Jenny said quickly.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I want all these people back about half a mile. And if any of your team talk to the press, they're fired." Jenny said in a no-nonsense voice.

"Now, do as she says." Cutter added, and then turned to Jenny.

"You always this bossy?" He asked her.

"I understand the object's to get the job done." Jenny said huffily, and walked off. Cutter turned back to the Fireman.

"So, what do we got?" Cutter asked him.

"Some kind of chemical leak. We've got a few idiots who ignored the alarm trapped on the 14th floor." The older man reported. Cutter nodded, taking in the information.

"Two of my fire fighters were in there as well." He added.

"Yeah, okay." Cutter said, and the Fireman walked away as Stephen pulled up alongside the curb.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I got stuck behind that light that you skimmed past." Stephen said, hurrying over.

"Is everything all right?" Cutter asked him.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Stephen said, and they walked into the lobby of the office.

"Where are you going? What am I supposed to do?" Jenny asked.

"Ah, you'll think of something." Cutter said flippantly. Together, they climbed the stairs where small ammounts of fog was drifting around. Suddenly, Stephen stopped.

"Wait a minute. If there's no fire, the lifts will be safe." He said, and looked at Cutter who shrugged. Stpehen opened the door to the main office, and a fog rolled out and into the stariwell, making him cough and sputter.

"Smells like, something rotting." He said, pushing the door closed until there was only a crack between it and the frame.

"That's their version of the Earth's atmosphere. It's probably Precambrian. It's high in sulphur and carbon dioxide." Cutter told him.

"Help! Help!" A woman's voice echoded down to them. They opened the door again and ran into the offices. In a canteen area, just off the main rooms, a firewoman was crouched on a steel table, her axe raised.

"You all right?" Cutter asked her.

"There's something inside the fog." The firewoman, Gloria, told him as Stephen caught up with Cutter. He ronded the corner, only to see the creatures - some kind of large, worm-like animals that looked like a leech crossed with a cactus. Acting out of instinct, he threw a cart at them.

"Give me your axe." Cutter said, and Gloria handed it over without question. Cutter hacked at the closest worm, but it didn't seem to have any effect. It spat black slime at him, and he dodged. It spattered against the wall, and Cutter lunged forward with the axe. The worm died with a pitiful gurgle.

"Right, come on. Here, do your job. Get us out of here." Cutter told her, and handed her the axe. Gloria jumped down from the counter, and a worm rose up from the smoke, attracted by the noise.

"Run!" She told them, and they bolted - the worm in pursuit. They made it to a stairwell that wasn't filled by fog, but before they could close the door, the worm lunged forward and grabbed Gloria's ankle.

"Get the door!" Stephen shouted to Cutter, who slammed the door on the creature that was acting like a doorstop.

"No, no, no. Get back." Stephen growled hanging onto Gloria tightly. She kicked out at the worm with her free foot as Cutter slammed the door again. Frustrated, Cutter picked up the axe again and moved to behead the horrid beast.

"Wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait, wait! Stop! Stop!" Stephen protested, as the worm convulsed one last timne and died.

"It's dead. What happened?" Stephen said thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure. But I think it might be from even further back than we thought." Cutter mused, as they stared at the shrivelled creature.

"The oxygen in our atmosphere must be like poison to it, so it can't breathe outside the fog. We've got to clear it." Cutter concluded.

"Yeah." Stephen agreed.

"Get on to Connor. Tell him to think of something." Cutter said - The other's still hadn't arrived.

"Yep." Stephen said, and pulled out his phone to make the call.

"They said there was a fire in the server room on the 15th floor. But there wasn't, just this fog. And something glowing." Gloria told Cutter.

"The anomaly." Cutter akcknowleged.

"What?" Gloria asked, confused.

"That's a long story. Stick to the stairs, stay out of the fog on your way down." Cutter said.

"There's still people trapped up there." Gloria informed him.

"We'll find them. You've done enough. Go on." Cutter told her, and offered her the axe.

"No, you keep it. You might need it." Gloria said.

"All right, thanks." Cutter said, and held onto the make-shift weapon. The firewoman ran down the stairs until she made it outside to where Jenny was waiting.

"Are you all right? What's going on?" Jenny demanded.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Gloria told her shakily.

"Go to the police. Don't talk to anyone until I say so, and you'll be debriefed later." Jenny instructed her.

"Okay." Gloria agreed. Back in the staircase, Stephen and Cutter were trying to figure out a solution as the fiog started leaking into the stairwell.

"What do we do now?" Stephen asked, as Cutter's phone began to ring. It was ignored.

"Can't go up. The fog's too thick." Cutter told him, looking around for an alternative.

_"Cutter, will someone please tell me what the hell is going on in there?"_ Jenny's message would go unnoticed, as both Stephen and Cutter had just reached the 12th floor, and were getting ready to make a run for the lift.

"Tenner says I get there first." Stephen bet, and Cutter laughed.

"Yeah, all right." He agreed. Together, they opened the door and bolted. Stephen reached out and slapped the button that would summon the lift. There was a whine as it began to descend from the 17th floor.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Stephen muttered, and there was a ding as the lift arrived. The door opened, releasing a deluge of fog, and out of nowhere, a large, slimy, and seriously sickening worm appeared – it also seemed to have heard the lift. It shot slime at them, and they ducked. Cutter swung the firewoman's axe at it, but lost it when the surprisingly agile creature managed to knock it from his hand.

"Back to the stairs!" Cutter shouted, and started running, but Stephen was trapped by the creature. Cutter reached the door, and turned back, but Stephen was lost in the fog.

"Stephen? Stephen!" Cutter called, desperate. There was no answer.

* * *

**14.01.2013**

**Any queries about the Aspen's Bluff Series should be directed to:_ aspenwilder at gmail dot com_**

**I finished my exams today... and I reckon I failed 'em. Eh - can't win em all though. I also signed up for a Radio slot at my College. I'll be on air from 10-10:40 AM on Tuesdays (hopefully), unfotunately I have a class at 10:45, so the hour slot is cut short unless I can broker a deal with my teacher.**

**I have a game for you. The first person to guess correctly, the reason behind Aspen's dislike of both Fez's, and Alarm Klaxon's will win a Cameo scene. Eg - You can be one of the bystanders, a family member of one of the team - OR, if you really want, I could persuade a dinosaur to eat you. You're choice.**

**Aspen tree's in fall**** phoenix dot ciss dot com dot cn/websites/tech/files/2012/01/aspen_trees1 dot jpg**

**I've had a few friends (and relatives) joke about how I gave Aspen red hair because I have red hair, this is not true. I toyed around with the ideas on hair colour upon noticing that there were no redheads in Primeval – not one, bar Claudia Brown who had auburn hair, not red. Then I looked into her namesake, Aspen. The Aspen tree turns a most brilliant shade of red-orange in fall, and I found myself in love with the colour. **

**Aspen's name choice was a tricky one. I was looking through a website on Baby names, but at only halfway through the A's, I became bored and frustrated. Finally, I shut my eyes and pointed randomly at part of the screen. My finger came to rest on the name Aspen, which I found an odd name, but eventually came to love. Her last name, Wilder, followed quickly after when I gained a firmer idea of her character in my mind, of a wild and untameable spirit – a girl who wouldn't bend and break, but who would stand strong with her friends. Her middle name, Faith, came completely by accident when I was walking my dog. I must have spent days frustrating myself over it. Finally, I reasoned that Aspen, a tree would be strong and sturdy, unwavering, and remembered how I dreamed of a girl who would have unwavering loyalty – hence the name Faith, in the sense of "Have faith in her."**

**The Aspen tree itself is a fascinating thing, and actually, managed to tie in perfectly with the woman I envisioned. Aspen trees are colonial in type, they have multiple trunks that derive from a single seedling, and spread out like a massive root system. While each trunk can live for up to 150 years, the roots and underground parts of the tree live for much longer, and are generally considered a sign of ancient woodland. There is a colony in Utah, nicknamed Pando, which is estimated to be 80,000 years old. **

**There are able to survive forest fires, and actually don't thrive in the shade. Fire actually benefits them as it allows the saplings to flourish in the sunlight after clearing the brush around them. They grow fast and are amazingly talented at regenerating their sprouts. It is also a traditional deterrent against evil spirits _*cough* Helen Cutter *cough*_ and an Aspen stake was believed to be one of the few weapons suitable to kill a vampire. It was also believed that a bigger stake could be driven into the grave of people condemned to damnation, to prevent them from rising from the dead. ( I _HATE_ Zombies)**

**Aspen's character is complex, and I've planned her out for all the way through Season 5, which means that ther is a set of plot twists for you all to wait on. Like her namesake, she is strong and unwavering. In her life she has lost her parents, and will lose others in the coming months (_spoilers_), but like her namesake she will rise stronger than ever. She tends to spread out, and snare people without them even noticing it_ *cough* Becker *cough*_ (_spoilers_), which in essential, creates a web. She is naturally a fiery person, and her temperament is… well – she's unwavering, let's leave it at that. Aspen is the kind of girl I wish I could be, in a sense, because she's tough (like me) and loyal (like me), and she can withstand a lot (not so much like me – I've had issues, but not like hers.).**


	4. Chapter 4: Samurai Swords vs Giant Worms

**Tripping Over Fools**

**Sophia Conrad**

**2.2: Samurai Swords vs Giant Worms**

* * *

_"Never been swallowed by a giant worm before, but I suppose it's all a learning experience, isn't it?"_

_― Connor Temple_

* * *

There was a screeching of tires as Aspen's beat up blue Jeep entered the ARC's parking lot. Connor and Abby jumped out of the Jeep, and Aspen wound down the window.

"I've left my EMD back at the flat. You guys go ahead, I'll be back in 20." She told them, and drove off again. Connor nodded to himself.

"Right then," He said to Abby. "Let's go find something to help Cutter." They practically sprinted to the main room of the ARC, and after being informed of the situation, headed to the armory to find something that could deal with smelly fog. It wasn't going so well.

"None of this stuff is any use." Connor moaned, as they rifled through the armory.

"This is the latest in hi-tech weaponry." Leek said huffily.

"There's equipment here that'd make James Bond cry with envy." He told them.

"And I understand that. But we need something that's going to clear fog." Connor replied.

"Well, find something that will clear fog, then." Leek said in a cross voice, and left the room.

"Garden center." Abby said suddenly. Connor stilled, and then turned to her.

"Abby, you officially a genius." Connor told her and she smiled. He followed her out the door, snagging a pair of handcuffs as he did so. They walked down a corridor that led through the Hub and back to the parking lot. On the way down the hallway, they passed a soldier who had severe neck scarring. Connor frowned and stopped. It almost looked like he'd been attacked by a small, sharp-toothed reptile.

_"_I know you, don't I?" He asked the soldier.

"I work here, probably seen me around." The soldier replied. Connor opened his mouth to ask him another question, but Abby appeared by his shoulder.

"We haven't got time for this, Connor. Come on." She said, and started tugging him down the corridor by his sleeve. The soldier stood still for a moment longer, watching them, before turning and walking away.

"Abby, come here a sec. Did you see the scars on that guy's neck?" Connor asked her quietly.

"No." Abby said dismissively.

"It was just… I swear that that was the guy from the shopping mall, the cleaner." Connor said.

"After the raptor attacked, he just vanished. Come on, you must remember him." He insisted.

"I didn't really look at him." Abby told him.

"Anyway, why would one of Lester's soldiers pretend to be a cleaner in a shopping mall? Come on." She pointed out.

"It just really… really did look like him." Connor said, and shook his head before following Abby out of the exterior door to wait for Aspen to come back.

* * *

On the 12th floor, Stephen was lost in the fog. He had lost sight of Cutter when that worm had attacked them earlier.

"Cutter?" Stephen said, looking around warily. There was no reply. A worm rose up out of the fog, and Stephen moved to the side to avoid it. Slowly, he edged until he was stood in front of the lift doors, careful not to alert the blind worm to his presence. It seemed that they navigated by sound. He reached behind him, and managed to worm, pardon the pun, his fingers into the space between the doors, sliding them open as quietly as possible.

The worm lifted its… head, and started sniffing, if one could call it sniffing, coming a little too close for comfort to Stephen's face a few times. As more worms slid into the corridor, Stephen switched tactics – setting an alarm on his watch, before throwing the watch down the corridor. Seconds later, it began beeping and the worms dove after it simultaneously. While they were distracted, Stephen slid through the doors and into the empty shaft, closing the doors behind him. He stood on the thin ledge with his back against the door and pulled his phone out.

"Yeah, it's me." Stephen said quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself. He wasn't sure how strong the worms were.

"Where are you?" Cutter asked.

"It doesn't matter. Listen. The place is infested, so don't come looking for me. I'll find my own way up." Stepeh said quickly, and hung up. He looked around for another way out. There was a ladder on the side of the lift shaft for maintainance. He grinned and prepared himself to jump, whem there came a whirring from below him. Somebody was using the lift.

Stephen's eyes went wide, and he flung himself across the gap, landing on the ladder with a clang. The lift was getting closer now, and so he scrambles up to the top of it as fast as he could. The lift stopped, barely skimming his heels and he let out a sigh of five minutes later, he could hear Jenny squealing and then Cutter shouting. There was the sound of footseps moving fast and then the slam of the stairwell door. Stephen shook his head and carried on up the lift shaft.

At the next set of doors, he crossed, prised them open and stepped out into another fog-filled corridor. Something was knocking the desks and chairs for six. It headed toward Stephen who quickly leapt onto a desk. Two worms rose up out of the smoke, and Stephen groped around for a weapon, picking up a biro. He looked at it for a moment and then threw it away. It would take more than a biro to get him out of here.

* * *

Downstairs in the lobby, 5 minutes before Stephen's brush with death, Jenny had finally managed to get through to Cutter.

"It's me. Why haven't you been answering any of my calls?" she demanded when he finally picked up.

"Been a bit busy." Cutter's voice sounded echo-y over the phone.

"Listen, I'm coming up." Jenny told him.

"No, no! Don't do that." Cutter said quickly, sounding panicked. Jenny ignored him.

"I'm tired of this. I want to know what's going on and quite frankly, you can't stop me.' She told him, sounding just a little bit smug.

"All right, you take the stairs to the 12th floor, and I'll meet you there." Cutter conceded.

"Now, don't use the lifts. I'll repeat that for you. Don't use the lifts." He added quickly.

"Yeah, fine. Whatever." Jenny said in a dismissive tone, before hanging up. She tapped her manicured fingers on the reception desk, and then made her decision.

_"_Twelve flights in heels. Men!" She said vehemently, and stalked across the lobby toward the lift. 12 floors later, she stepped out into a fog-filled corridor and immediately began to cough.

"Cutter! Cutter?"Jenny called, trying to see through the cloudy gases. Behind her, a worm raised its body up out of the fog and lunged at her. Jenny let out a surprised squeal as it latched onto her intricate hairstyle.

_"_Cutter!" Jenny screamed for help. There was the sound of running footsteps.

"No, no!"She moaned as she realized what was happening. It was _eating_ _her_ _hair. _The footsteps grew louder as Cutter rounded a corner and then came to a stop when he saw what was happening.

"Great." He muttered.

"Cutter!" Jenny screamed again. Thinking quickly, Cutter grabbed a samurai sword from a nearby display and decapitated the aggressive worm.

"The next time I say take the stairs, you take the stairs!" Cutter snarled at her, still holding the sword. Another worm rose up behind him and spattered him with a tar-like slime before knocking him to the ground, making him drop the sword, and then latching onto his leg. This time it was Jenny who came to the rescue, as she retrieved the Japanese weapon and swung, cleanly slicing the worm in two.

"Watch where you're swinging that thing!" Cutter yelped, staring at the tiny space between the tip of the blade and his jeans.

"Next time I'll leave it to you to get yourself out of trouble!" Jenny snarled as she dropped the sword on the floor.

"Fine! It's not as if I was asking for help." Cutter said angrily, standing up and grabbing the sword from where it lay near her feet.

"You were doing so well on your own!" Jenny said sarcastically. Pot meet Kettle – They were as bad as each other.

"Everything was fine until you showed up!" Cutter snarled at her, and then stalked back down the smog-filled corridor toward the stairwell. Jenny followed like a lost sheep.

"You all right?" He asked her, letting out a sigh.

"It's all true. Creatures. Dinosaurs? This is my new job? How?" Jenny asked. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, things had begun to sink in.

"Later on I'll explain everything I know to you but right now, I've got work to do. And if you can't handle it, you'd best go back downstairs right now." Cutter told her, and then lead her down a flight of stairs where they ran into Aspen who was followed by Abby and Connor, who were carrying a pair of leaf blowers.

"You lot took your time." Cutter said, frustrated.

"You ever been to a garden centre on a Friday afternoon?" Connor asked, defensively.

"It was a madhouse." Abby told him.

"Leaf blowers, that's a good idea." Cutter said, looking at Connor's 'weapon of choice'. Behind them, Aspen pouted.

"We would have been here sooner, but Abby wouldn't let me use my EMD." She confessed to Jenny, who was suddenly looking scared again.

"Where's Stephen?" Abby asked, looking around.

"We got separated." Cutter told her. Aspen pushed past him and opened the door, only to jerk back after inhaling the sulphide fog. She started shaking and her knees buckled as an unexplained panic attack kicked in.

* * *

In the videoconference room, on the 14th floor, the demo ad ended and Mr Nagata was back on the screen. Shelly huddled in the corner with Max.

"An impressive presentation, Miss Mitchell. I believe Nagata beer and your company can work together. Congratulations." Mr Nagata told Shelly.

"Thank you, Mr Nagata. Can I call you back?" She said, and the call ended. On the other side of the room, a worm got lucky and managed to open the sliding door. Fog spilled into the room.

"Shelly, look out!" Max shouted. Shelly closed the laptop they had been using and swung it like a baseball bat. It hit the worm with a sickening squelching noise. Cutter, Abby and Connor rounded a nearby corner, using the leaf blowers to navigate through the fog. Cutter was still carrying the sword.

"Follow me. Whatever you do, stay out of the fog." Cutter told the frightened civilians, walking into the conference room.

"What are those things?" Shelly asked, her nerves completely fried.

"They're worms. They're just a little bit less friendly than the ones in your garden." Cutter told her and stuck his head out of the door to look around.

"All right? Come on." He said and walked out of the room again, the others following close behind. The fog closed in around them as they walked. They reached the stairwell where Jenny was waiting with Aspen who was still trying to regulate her breathing.

_"_I think we're all right now." Connor said, bringing up the rear as the descended. He just had to tempt fate. It was almost as if a higher power had been listening in on them because no sooner than the words had left his mouth, a worm leant down over one of the upper railings and engulfed Connor's head in its mouth. They could hear Connor's muffled screams as Cutter leapt forward to attack the overgrown invertebrate and sliced its head off in one swing. Connor emerged, safe, but covered in slime.

_"_Are you all right?" Cutter asked him, and Connor grimaced.

"Yeah." He told them looking disgusted.

"Still. Never been swallowed by a giant worm before, but I suppose it's all a learning experience, isn't it?" He joked, looking over at Aspen who had her EMD out and was hyperventilating. She wasn't having a very good day.

"It could have been worse. Yeah, it could have been a lot worse." Cutter said, clearly trying to convince himself more so than the others. He handed the worm head to Connor and then walked off down the stairs, still muttering to himself.

"You okay?" Abby asked Connor.

"Fine." He replied, clearly shaken, and Abby left. Aspen had now stopped hyperventilating, but now looked as if she was likely to throw up. The smoke upstairs had not been very nice, if anything it had somehow managed to heighten her adrenaline levels and cause a panic attack. Tentatively he led her downstairs to where the others waited in the lobby, before padding off to clean himself up in the men's room. The slime was starting to smell suspiciously like stomach acid.

_"_Who are you people? What happened up there?" Shelly demanded hysterically, looking to Cutter for answers.

"Uh… I'm sorry, I wouldn't know where to start." He told her, wearing a deer-in-the-headlights expression. Thankfully, Jenny intervened. It was, after all, her job.

"Listen. There was a fire, you heard the alarm, you tried to evacuate but got lost in the smoke." She told Shelly.

"But what about those things?" Shelly asked.

"What things?" Jenny said, denying the existence of the pre-cambrian worms.

"They killed Terry." Shelly insisted, a panicked look in her eyes.

"If I were you, I'd think really hard about how a story like that is going to sound out there. Just call it our little secret." Jenny told her in an icy tone, and ushered her and her friend out of the lobby toward the firemen.

_"_Now, we've got to find Stephen, and get him out." Cutter said, already set to return to the upper floors.

"Right, how are we going to do that?" Connor asked, sounding lost as he reentered the lobby.

"The fog's coming from the anomaly on the 15th floor." Cutter confirmed.

"Now, the worms can't breathe outside the fog." Cutter told them about the earlier discovery.

"So we have to get rid of the fog." Aspen said.

"Yeah." Cutter answered.

"Can't we just open the windows?" Abby asked.

"None of the windows open, because the entire building is temperature controlled." Cutter told her.

"Progress, what's the point?" Connor remarked and Aspen huffed.

"So what do we do then?" Abby asked looking for a solution. Connor looked pensive.

"Temperature controlled? Air conditioning?" He asked Cutter, perking up.

"Yeah." Cutter confirmed.

"Well, all we need to do then, is heat up the air, and, well, it'll expand and push the fog right out through the ventilation system. Right?" Connor asked him looking gleeful. He was bouncing again.

"Absolutely. Unfortunately, the temperature is controlled from the server room on the 15th floor." Cutter told him. Connor's face dropped.

"On the 15th floor. Of course it is. It's going to get seriously hot in here. We're going to go up there, aren't we?" He asked Cutter.

"No. You're going up there. I'm going to look for Stephen." Cutter told them. Connor nodded and the four of them started to walk toward the stairwell. As Aspen passed him, Connor grabbed her arm.

"Hold up. Where do you think you're going?" Connor demanded, causing Abby and Cutter to stop.

"With Cutter. Y'know, to find Stephen and all?" She reminded him. Connor let out a growl as he pulled her back to where Jenny was waiting by a set of doors.

"You can't go up there." He insisted and Aspen smacked his arm.

"The hell I can't" Aspen said, her voice starting to raise in volume.

"Your asthmatic!" Connor reminded her of what had just happened. She just looked at him petulantly.

"Your point?" She asked, ready to argue until doomsday. Connor had had enough though, the fog upstairs had really hurt her, even if she wouldn't admit it. Thanking the gods for his inutition, he whipped out the handcuffs he had aquired earlier, and secured her to the metal door handle. She wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"Stay." He told her firmly and turned to walk back to Abby.

"Connor! You get back here right now and unchain me! Connor!" Aspen screamed but Connor ignored her and kept walking.

"You know she's going to kill you for this right?" Abby asked ignoring Aspen's shouts.

"Does it matter?" Connor said and they walked through the door and into the stairwell. Aspen raged for a few moments and then settled for testing the handcuffs. They appeared to be military grade. Bored with the theatrics Cutter turned toward the stairs the leaf blower slung over his shoulder. Jenny followed him.

"Let me help. I want to do something." Jenny protested.

"Okay. I want you to go and bully a few traumatized bystanders, and then I want you to come up with some spin to just smooth all this away." Cutter told her, uncaring.

"You don't approve of me, do you?" Jenny said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No, I used to think you were really something, but you're not that person." Cutter told her shortly, not willing to go into detail.

"Am I supposed to understand that?" Jenny asked, miffed.

"No, I guess not." Cutter replied, and walked off. Jenny turned to Aspen, who was glaring at the staircase. Connor was in for a world of trouble when he got back.

"I don't suppose you know, do you?" Jenny asked Aspen, who was still glowering at the staircase.

"It's a long story." Aspen told her and Jenny tapped her foot, frustrated, before following Cutter into the stairwell. Aspen cursed furiously. A few minutes later, she reached up with her spare hand and pulled an intricte looking hairpin from her braid and folded it out. The pin was in fact a disguised lock-pick, and less than 5 minutes later, she was free. She crossed the room to the reception desk, dug around for a sharpie, then wrote a message on the glass that couldn't be missed before leaving.

* * *

Up on the 13th floor, Stephen sat on a desk in the middle of a fog-filled office. Worms were circling him, hidden by the fog. He stood up catiously, and began to cross the room, leaping from desk to desk. He reached a set of cabinets and scrambled up onto the top of one, before pulling out his phone and dialling Cutter's number.

"Cutter, hi. I'm on the 13th floor, don't know exactly where." Stephen said quietly.

"What are you waiting for? Come down." Cutter told him, unaware of the situation.

"Yeah, a bit of a problem with that. Leave it with me." Stephen said, looking around the room. He hung up, and focused on the task in front of him: Don't get eaten.

The cabinet he was on shuddered violently as something slammed into its base. He dodged a deluge of slime, and it spattered on the wall next to him. He lunged forward, making a run for it across the desks, attracting the attention of the worms. One of them managed to latch onto his ankle, and he was sent sprawling, but struggled to his feet. The large worm lunged at him and he dodged. It lunged again and missed. The third time it lunged, he caught it in a headlock and slammed it into the photocopier, accidentally photocopying it in the process. Eventually, it stopped struggling.

A few minutes later, another worm tried to attack Stephen. He stabbed this one with a metal prong, pinning it to a water dispenser in the process and then settled down to wait.

* * *

"It's hard work this. May have to go back to the gym. I can't believe I washed Caroline's number off. Such an idiot." Connor chattered as he scaled the concrete steps.

"I know. Shame." Abby agreed, not sounding to upset. They had just passed the 14th floor.

"She's going to think I'm too cool to call now." Connor said mournfully and Abby rolled her eyes.

"Maybe you'll bump into her again, yeah?" She offered.

"Oh, yeah. When was I ever that lucky, eh?" Connor said sarcastically as they reached the 15th floor.

"You first." Abby told him, watching the door warily. Connor stepped forward and opened it. A wave of fog rolled out through the crack between door and frame, making Connor close it again, hacking and coughing as he did so.

"Foggy?" Abby asked, trying not to laugh.

"A bit foggy, yeah." Connor agreed.

"I think we're going to have to find another way in." He told her.

"Okay." Abby said. Connor thought about it for a moment, and then looked up. He grinned and reached up to pop the ventilation hatch above them, before scrambling up into it like an overgrown monkey.

"It's clear." He said gleefully, looking down at her.

"Right." Abby said, steeling herself. She tried to hand him the leaf blower, but he refused it.

"No, I think we're going to have to get by without it." He told her.

"Not enough space." He added when she frowned. Abby climbed up to join him, reluctantly leaving the leaf blower behind.

"Abby, can you not crowd me so much. A little bit of space, thanks." Connor fussed when she practically ended up in his lap. Abby drew back and Connor pulled out a map of some kind.

"Oh, hang on, this is… Yeah, yeah. The server room should be just up here and to the left. Oh, no. That might be the right… I'm not…" Connor trailed off, clearly confused.

"Give it here." Abby jerked the map away from him, and turned it the right way up.

"No, it's that way, to the left." She told him, pointing to a different junction.

"Really?" He asked, and she shoved the map back at him.

"Whoever said that men could read maps?" Abby grumbled as she crawled over him and down the ventilation duct.

"Ow." Connor moaned as she accidentally kicked him in the shin when she passed. A few minutes later, he began chanting a set of numbers over and over until Abby got fed up.

"07789678, 07789678…" He muttered.

"What are you doing?" Abby asked, both confused and irritated.

"Trying to remember Caroline's number. Don't put me off. 07789678…" Connor told her, and returned to chanting under his breath.

* * *

Two floors below Abby and Connor, Jenny had caught up with Cutter.

"I'm impressed." Jenny said, causing Cutter to frown.

"Meaning what?" He asked gruffly.

"Lester asked me to assess anything that might interfere with the team's efficiency." Jenny told him.

"And that's relevant because?" Cutter asked, confused.

"Lester had me read the files pertaining to your team." Jenny told him.

"What does that have anything to do with this?" He asked, stopping.

"I was worried that Aspen's temperament would interfere with the job, but you seem to have that all worked out." Jenny said, referring to Connor handcuffing the younger woman in the lobby.

"So, he sent you here to spy on us?" Cutter asked.

"I prefer to call it management appraisal." Jenny said, sounding rather smug. Cutter started walking again, leaving Jenny behind.

"Cutter, you're the team leader, we can't afford to lose you. Now, the most sensible thing would be to let Stephen fend for himself." Jenny told him.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right. Now, are you coming? Or are you going to stay down here and be sensible?" Cutter snapped at her angrily, and continued walking. Jenny followed reluctantly.

* * *

Abby dropped out of the ventilation shaft and into the server room. She crossed over to the machines on the opposite wall as Connor stuck his head through the hatch.

"Abby, I think that's the one. That's the aircon, yeah." He told her, and she opened the plastic panel that covered the controls, and began to turn up the heat.

"That's enough. Come back." Connor told her after a couple of minutes. She crossed the room, and was about to climb back into the duct when a worm appeared in the doorway.

"Worm." Connor said, staring at it. Abby turned and narrowly dodge as the wrom lunged for her. It collected itself and then lunged again, she dodged. The third time that it lunged, Abby pulled herself into a kickboxing stance and went on the offense.

"Nice move." Connor said as she gave it a harsh blow and it collapsed to the floor.

"Connor, in your own time." Abby complained, reaching up toward him.

"Oh, sorry. Come on. I got you." Connor said, and pulled her up into the ventilation shaft where she ended up sitting on him again.

"I can't breathe, Abby." Connor said as the slowly heating gas started to vent from the building, using the very ducts that they were sat in.

"Is it working?" Abby asked.

"I hope so." Connor groaned.

* * *

On the outside of the building, triggered by Abby's tinkering in the server room, several vents opened up, and the sulphuric fog began to exit the building. Cutter and Jenny rushed into the office where Stephen was having it out with the worms.

"You took your time." Stephen shouted, fending off yet another worm. This one went down under a hail of staples – The staple gun having been Stephen's most recent weapon. He was starting to have to get creative.

"Well, you will run off on your own." Cutter remarked sarcastically as the fog around them began to lift.

"The fog's lifting." Jenny said, looking around the room.

"It's working." Cutter cried gleefully. There was, however, one small problem. While the smoke was indeed lifting, and the worms were choking… They were also getting bigger, and they looked like they might explode.

"What's happening to them?" Jenny asked, more than a little worried.

"Must be the heat." Cutter murmured, watching them closely.

"They're expanding." Jenny cried out, stating the obvious. One by one, the worms began to explode, covering the trio in worm guts and a series of tiny, worm-like tubers that latched onto them and began to break the skin. The three of them began to hurriedly remove the parasitic creatures.

"God! They're spawning." Cutter realized.

"They're not biting, they're burrowing. They're trying to find a new host. Don't let them break the skin." He told them, and then started looking around.

"Got to find something to bring the temperature down." He muttered, still pulling the leach/worm… things… off of his body.

"It will take too long." Stephen shouted, also fighting with the tiny parasites.

"Anybody got a light?" Cutter asked quickly, jumping onto one of the office desks. Jenny handed him a light which he flicked open and held up to a sprinkler het, tripping the system. The cold water killed the miniature worms instantly.

_"_Claudia, are you all right?" Cutter asked, turning to a soaked and irritated Jenny.

"Don't call me Claudia. And I'm fine." She snapped, and stormed off back downstairs. Stephen and Cutter shared a look before following.

Half an hour later, Stephen sat with Cutter on the steps outside of the office had reached the lobby only to discover Aspen's message which had made Stephen laugh and inquire who had pissed her off. It looked like Connor was going to be staying the night at Abby's house if either of them ever intended to live past Saturday.

"Do you ever wonder if what we're doing is right?" Stephen asked Cutter.

"I mean, maybe the anomalies have a purpose. Maybe we should stop fighting and face them." He added quickly, as Cutter frowned.

"What? Just stand by and do nothing?" Cutter asked him, confused.

"People should know what's happening. 'Cause, we're going to need to prepare for whatever comes next." Stephen pointed out.

"Yeah, but how do you prepare for a world where evolution has gone mad? We have to fight to try and maintain some kind of natural order." Cutter asked him.

"Does anybody really know what the natural order is anymore?" Stephen remarked as Cutter stood and walked away, lost in thought.

* * *

"Nice cup of tea. Here we are." A now clean Connor walked into Abby's living room, carrying a pair of mugs. He handed one to Abby, who took it gratefully. Neither of them had wanted to test Aspen's temper so Abby had agreed to Connor staying the night.

_"_I just want to say, Abby, I think you did really well today." Connor told her with a smile.

"I think you did really well, too. You did good." Abby told him and grinned.

"High five to us." Connor said.

"Yeah." Abby grinned and they high fived. There were footsteps on the stairs, and then Caroline popped into view.

"Hello! The door was open." Caroline said, by way of an explanation.

"I think I left my mobile here earlier." She said, walking to the back of the room. Abby seemed to surprised to say anything, and Connor looked as if he'd just won the lottery - twice. Caroline rooted around, before picking up her mobile off of the desk.

"Oh! That's a relief. I've been looking for it all day. I wouldn't want to miss your call." Caroline said, holding it to her chest. She smiled at Connor who let out a sigh of relief.

"That's weird, because all day I've been fretting about…" Connor trailed off, and then shook his head.

"You know what, it doesn't even matter. Do you fancy a drink? Like, not a cup of tea, obviously. Like, a proper drink. You know, somewhere, out there." He offered, gesturing to the door. Caroline smiled.

"Why not?" She said, and picked up her purse.

"Now?" Connor asked, a little bug-eyed.

"Now." Caroline confirmed, smiling.

"Super cool." Connor said, a little giddily, and the pair headed toward the stairs.

"Oh, why don't you join us, Abby?" Caroline offered, appearing to be sincere.

"Me? Um, no, I'm fine." Abby said with a fake smile, and Connor left with Caroline. As the door shut behind them, Abby frowned. There was something off about that girl. She was a little bit _too_ nice.

* * *

Cutter stood outside of Jenny's house, starring at her door. He couldn't quite bring himself to go up and knock. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and flipped it open to look at a picture of Claudia Brown, before exhaling softly and putting it away. He walked up to the painted door and knocked three times. A few moments later Jenny answered the door.

"Okay, here's the thing. Suppose there was another world once, and you were a different person. And suppose there was an accident that happened in the past, which meant that world evolved differently, so that some people who had lived were never even born, and other people grew up with completely different lives. Now, what if all that was possible?" Cutter said, his voice cracking as he spoke.

"Who is it, Jen?" A man's voice came from inside the house, stalling Cutter's thoughts.

"You're busy. I'm so sorry." Cutter apologized hastily, trying to backtrack, and then turned to leave.

"Who's that?" The owner of the voice, Jenny's fiance Mike, asked as he appeared behind her.

"Just someone I work with." Jenny said, a confused look in her eyes as she watched Cutter walk away. There was a soft thud as she shut the front door and then he couldn't hear her anymore.

Cutter kept on walking, trying to come to terms with the fact that what Aspen had said was true. The woman who had once been Claudia Brown was gone, and now there wwas a shadow in her place. The woman who he had loved was now nothing but an echo, and he would never see her again. The tide had already come in. His mobile began to ring in his pocket, and so he pulled it out and pressed the answer button before holding it to his ear.

"Hello?" He said, his voice empty.

"Cutter? It's me." It was Aspen, and she sounded worried. Gone was the fury he had seen in her eyes earlier that day.

"What is it?" He asked, already alert, praying that it wasn't another anomaly. The fates were against him though, as it was worse.

"It's Helen. She's gone."

* * *

**25.01.2013**

**Any queries about the Aspen's Bluff Series should be directed to: _aspenwilder at gmail dot com_**

**_Challenge:_**** Guess the reason behind Aspen's dislike of both Fez's, and Alarm Klaxon's.**

**_Prize:_**** A Cameo. Eg - You can be one of the bystanders, a family member of one of the team - OR, if you really want, I could persuade a dinosaur to eat you. You're choice.**

**Reminders:**

**1) Read and Review! I want an excuse to give out virtual cookies, or real ones if your lucky enough to go to school with me. :)**

**2) I'm editing Arguing With Time because my sister pointed out that the scenes jump about a tad erratically. She's never actually watched the original show, so she's helping me smooth things over.**

**3) As always the Bio has been updated.**

**4) I am now officially out of scripts to work with - so that mean's I'll be moving a little slower than I'd have liked. I'm going to try and spend a few hours each evening on Sat and Sunday to watch, and copy out scripts from Episdoes 3, 4 & 5 to work with this week, and then do Episodes 6 & 7 next weekend. Hopefully this story will be done by the end of next week, and then I can start on _Twisting the Wire _afterwards. That will be around 20 chapters and probably take maybe 5 weeks if I do 4 chapters a week. Please do remember that I have college to attend, and that means that I _do_ actually have to study no matter how much I hate it.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Name: **Aspen Faith Wilder,

**Nicknames: **"Penny", "Penn", "Asp".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Family:** Marie Wilder [Mother - **Deceased**], Jacob Wilder [Father - **Deceased**], Annabelle Irwin [Aunt], Cousin [Unnamed - **Spoilers**], Connor Temple [Surrogate Brother], Nick Cutter [Surrogate Father], Adoptive Brother [Unnamed - **Spoilers**].

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD _(The origins of this weapon are unknown.)_

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple.

**Enemies:** Future Predators, Helen Cutter.

**Likes:** Chinese food, Connor, Blankets, Explosives, Shiny things.

**DISlikes:** Raptors, Predators, Anything that tries to eat Connor.

**Abilities: **Intelligence, Music, Aspen is an expert marksman. _(This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)_

**Disabilities:** Asthma _(triggered by smoke),_ recovered from PTSD _(allegedly)._

**Fears: **Abandonment, Fez's, Red Alarm Klaxon's, Future Predators. _(Reasons are implied, but not confirmed.)_

**Incursions handled to date:** Gorgonopsid _(1.1)_, Coelurosauravus **[Rex]** _(1.1)_, Scutosaurus _(1.1)_, Arthropleura _(1.2)_, Protosolpugidae _(1.2)_, Mosasaur _(1.3)_, Hesperonis _(1.3)_, Dodo _(1.4)_, Parasite _(1.4)_, Pterosaur _(1.5)_, Pteranodon _(1.5)_, Future Predator _(1.6)_, Raptor _(2.1)_, Precambrian Worm _(2.2)_.

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip in Anglesea, where she saw her parents die. After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt (Annabelle Irwin) and older cousin (Unnamed), who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

Later, she and Connor helped found the ARC along with Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, Abby Maitland and James Lester.


	5. Chapter 5: The ADD

**Tripping Over Fools**

**Sophia Conrad**

**2.3: The A.D.D**

* * *

_"__I'd like you to meet the Anomaly Detection Device, or A.D.D. for short... actually that's probably not the best acronym, is it?_"

_― Connor Temple_

* * *

In an unnamed forest, two young women dressed in black and carrying guns ran full pelt through a paintballing course. They came to a stop and removed the masks they were wearing.

"Which way?" Lisa asked.

"I was following you." Her friend Anna told her. They both jumped as a howling echoed through the forest.

"What was that?" Anna asked. The howling continued in short bursts, as something stalked the two girls from the bushes. There was a rustling from the trees opposite the bushes, and a large crate toppled over to reveal another paintballer.

"Eat paint ladies." He cackled, dousing them in pellets of paint.

"What the hell?" Anna shouted.

"Get lost! " Lisa shouted.

"You freak!" Anna shouted.

"Warren, you are such a loser. Just push off." Lisa shouted as Warren ran off through the forest, laughing at his presumed victory. The creature in the bushes chose to follow the noisy human over the quieter women, stalking him through the forest. Warren ran through the forest, letting off bursts of paint-fire into the air as he went. Eventually he came to a stop to take a breather, it was then that he heard the sound of snapping twigs nearby. Warren ignored it, believing it to be Anna and Lisa, and pulled his helmet off.

"Is that supposed to be frightening?" Warren shouted, flinching at every snap of a twig. The creature that had been stalking him decided to make its move, and rushed in for the kill. His dying screams echoed through the forest.

* * *

Abby's blue Mini cooper pulled up in front of the waterside cafe and Connor jumped out, clearly in a hurry. Abby stuck her head out of the window.

"Don't be late." Abby fussed. She had only given him a lift because he was staying with her. Aspen still hadn't come back from wherever she had disappeared from, and Abby was counting the days - Connor wasn't the easiest flatmate to have, especially now that Caroline was popping over at every hour of the day and night.

"Yep." Connor said dismissively, bounding up the stone steps to the riverside café where Caroline was waiting.

"He-hey. You alright?" Connor chirped as he jogged over to where Caroline was sat, wearing a smile and a pretty dress.

"I got you a coffee" Caroline said, and Connor winced.

"That's… lovely of you. I'm sorry Caroline but I can't stay." Connor said, and Caroline's face fell.

"Oh that's a pity. Work again? You must be the busiest student I've ever met." Caroline said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Had Aspen been there, she probably would have pretended to vomit.

"I know. It's just a bit crazy right now, I've gotta do this presentation… about zoology… its really boring stuff. I'm sorry." Connor said in a rush, and turned to leave.

"Connor." Caroline said, and like a puppy returning to it's mistress - Connor turned back.

"Yup?" He said obediently.

"Come here." Caroline crooked a finger and Connor stepped closer.

"Come here. Try me. I'm interested in animals." She said, and Connor looked blissful.

"Yeah?" Connor said, turning ever-so-slightly pink.

"Mhm…" Connor leaned closer, but then looked at Abby who was waiting for him. He looked back to Caroline and sighed.

"I really wanna stay, but I have to run. I'm sorry Caroline, I am." He said sadly.

"Your sweet." Caroline simpered, playing for time.

"Am I?" Connor asked, chuffed.

"Mhmm…" Caroline hummed, and nodded. Connor smiled and did a wibble-wobble sort of jiggle, before leaning into kiss her, but she moved slightly so he only caught her cheek.

"Oh. Thanks for the coffee. It's very sweet." He said, and downed the coffee hurriedly, burning his throat. He winced.

"Quite hot." He said and they shared a laugh.

"I'll text you." he promised, and then hurried off back to Abby who was still in the Mini.

"I really just burnt my tongue." He said to Abby who rolled her eyes.

"Just get in the car Connor." She told him, and drove off. As they left, Caroline sent a photo of Rex to an unnamed number.

* * *

Leek was pacing back and forth in front of the inactive A.D.D, wearing a proverbial hole in the floor. Connor was late. Jenny stood next to Cutter at the side of the room looking uncomfortable.

"So... Hows the boyfriend?" Cutter asked, trying to fill the silence.

"Fiancé." Jenny snapped, and then paused before adding.

"Fine. Thankyou." Leek stopped pacing and looked at his watch.

"Just waiting for Connor now, he should be here soon." Cutter told him, and Leek returned to pacing. There was a bang as one of the side doors opened quickly, and Connor crashed into the room, Abby right behind him.

"Sorry! Sorry! Stay calm, would you kindly put me in the driver's seat, please." Connor said hurriedly, rushing to the console. He tapped away at the keyboard while the team came together and got comfortable. The A.D.D came online with a whir, and Connor turned to face the others.

"I'd like you to meet the Anomaly Detection Device, or A.D.D. for short..." Connor said with a grin, and then looked at Cutter.

Actually that's probably not the best acronym, is it?" He said, just realizing what he had said.

"Connor." Cutter said.

"Sorry." Connor apologized.

"Breathe." Cutter told the younger man. Connor did as he was told and then continued.

"Sorry. Now what you're looking at, is a fully integrated, graphic representation of the radio communication matrix. It's networking the whole of the U.K's transmitters." Connor paused, looking really pleased with himself. Jenny sniffed.

"Congratulations, you've built yourself your very own satnav." She said, clearly disappointed.

"I believe you can get them dashboard size nowadays." Leek added, and they shared a laugh. For a moment, Connor seemed to loose his nerve, but he shook his head and continued.

"This watches over the U.K 24/7, so..." Connor pressed a button and an alarm went off, accompanied by a flashing light. Everybody jumped, and turned to look around.

"What is that?" Leek asked, looking irritated.

"_That_, is just a demo. But when a real anomaly appears, this machine will alert us instantly." Connor told them.

"Good work." Cutter said, and Connor turned pink.

"Thank you very much." He replied, sounding rather chuffed as he turned off the demo. Connor picked up a hand-held detector and turned back around.

"Here's one I made earlier." Connor told them, and handed it to Cutter who immediately began to check it out.

"This is a palm-held detector, for use in the field. It has a short-wave radio receiver, with a range of about 100 meters, give or take a few." He informed them.

"I was hoping for something more compact." Cutter admitted, passing the detector to Stephen who looked it over.

"It's just a prototype, so we can work on that." Connor said as Stephen passed it back to him.

"Have you tried beaming up with it yet?" Jenny snarked, clearly not too impressed.

"Are you here to help, or just be sarcastic?" Connor snapped back. Years with Aspen had taught him not to back down.

"'Cause this is a serious piece of tech, or at least it will be once I'm done working out the kinks." Connor defended his work. Behind Jenny, Leek hung up his phone and walked over to rejoin the group.

"Technical question." Leek said, rejoining the group.

"Yes?" Connor was always ready to talk about computers.

"Is the detector online now?" Leek wanted to know.

"It is." Connor confirmed.

"Hmm... So it _should _be picking up on every new anomaly." Leek said.

"Yep." Connor grinned, proud.

"So why have I just been informed that we have a new creature attack?" Leek said, and the group turned to stare at a stunned Connor.

"Just because it's the first that _you_ have heard of it, doesn't mean it's a new one. Anomalies open and close all the time - maybe something got stuck." Everybody looked up to see Aspen standing next to Leek on the balcony above them. Her eyes were fixed firmly on Leek, daring him to challenge her. It appeared that he had some survival instincts, as he looked away.

"Well. What are you all waiting for? Another casualty?" Lester said in his sarcastic tone, and the team headed out, leaving Aspen to rejoin Lester in his office for a debriefing of the Fog-Worm incident (Also known as IR-23). As he passed the glass window, Leek shot Aspen a particularly nasty look.

* * *

A roller-coaster full of screaming people rushed by overhead as the team set up in the covered picnic area. Connor had his detector out, while Stephen scanned the nearby area. The body of the dead man lay on a nearby surface in a black bag that had been opened so Cutter and Abby could get a look.

"I've seen enough. Zip him up Abby." Cutter said, and there was an audible zipping as Abby sealed the bag. Cutter moved to one of the nearby tables and sat down on it, resting his feet on the attached bench.

"Claw marks _everywhere_. He's been ripped to shreds." Cutter said, resting his head in his hands as he imagined the painful death.

"If I was back at the zoo, I'd say it was a lion. You saw how the bones had been gnawed." Abby said, moving to stand beside him.

"Alright, big cat then." Cutter agreed, and looked at Connor who was finished up the scan.

"No radio interference, no magnetic field, no sign of an anomaly." Connor informed them.

"Y'know, I checked every chip of every circuit board of that detector. It's working, I'm telling you. If there was an anomaly, it would have shown up." He insisted. Cutter grimaced.

"Might have too." Cutter told him reluctantly. Stephen turned around.

"No. No, maybe he's got a point. Perhaps there is another explanation for this." Stephen said, and Abby's head shot up.

"There are thousands of big cat sightings every year. Puma's. Leopard's. Lynx's." Abby pointed out.

"Yeah, but none of them are big enough to do this kind of damage." Cutter said, dismissing the idea.

"It could have escaped from a private zoo." Abby pointed out.

"Find out if anything has been reported." Cutter said, and Abby nodded. She grabbed her phone and left to make a call. Stephen's phone beeped - It was Helen. In the week that had passed since she had somehow managed to escape from the ARC's holding cell, she had been texting him frequently. This meant that she was either making regular trips to the present, or was still around somewhere.

"Everything okay?" Cutter asked. Stephen jumped, erased the text and then put the phone away.

"Fine." Stephen said, before walking into the bushy undergrowth to look for tracks. Connor sidled up to Cutter.

"If it is just an ordinary big cat, I mean, if it's just a normal explanation, then, the A.D.D would be off the hook, right?" Connor asked, sounding hopeful.

"Maybe." Cutter said grimly.

* * *

The team crossed the police cordon, following Jenny who seemed to be on a mission.

"Wait here." Jenny said as they reached the bottom of a wooden ramp. She continued on alone to the top of the ramp where a woman dressed in jeans and a red jacket was waiting.

"Valerie Irwin?" She asked, and the other woman nodded,

"Did you find the body?" Jenny asked, as time was of the essence.

"No, I'm the deputy park manager. One of the guests was out running - He called the police." Valerie answered, looking nervous.

"Who have you told?" Jenny questioned her.

"Just my managing director, Peter Campbell." Valerie said.

"Good. No press? No friends?" Jenny pressed. Valerie shook her head.

"Keep it that way. This whole incident is under wraps for the time being." Jenny said curtly.

"Are you the police?" Valerie asked. Jenny ignored her.

"I'm going to need to speak to the man who found the body. Do you know where he is?" Jenny asked. Valerie nodded.

"I put him in a hospitality suite. Obviously he's very-"

"I'm sure. Whenever you're ready." Jenny cut in with a smile that would have chilled a crocodile. Valerie frowned.

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" She asked. Jenny stopped smiling.

"I didn't." Jenny told her, clearly irritated. For a few seconds longer, they locked eyes, before Valerie looked away.

"After you." Jenny said, and even though she was clearly upset, Valerie lead the way.

* * *

Later, Jenny and Cutter walked through the park, accompanied by Valerie and her boss - Peter Campbell. Cutter was insisting that they close the park, and Peter clearly didn't agree.

"Are you insane? This is peak season. Do you have any idea how much money we're talking about?" Peter said heatedly. He stopped, and went up to one of the guests.

"Hi. I'm Peter. Hope you're having a great time here at Blue Sky Parks. Keep smiling!" He said, and then rejoined the group. Cutter rolled his eyes.

"A big cat just mauled one of your guest's to death." Cutter pointed out. Peter however, looked unphased, and kept on smiling.

"You sure? Did you see it?" He asked through gritted teeth. Cutter sighed.

"Not yet." Cutter admitted.

"Then this conversation is over." Peter told him, and before Cutter could get a word in edgeways, went up to another guest.

"Hi. I'm Peter. Hope you're having a great time here at Blue Sky Parks. Keep smiling!" Cutter followed him.

"Look, you're gonna need to evacuate this place." Cutter insisted, and Peter laughed.

"Peter, he's right." Valerie said quietly. Peter silenced her with a glare.

"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it." He told her sharply, and then turned to Cutter, getting in his face.

"What if I close the park and nothing happens? Hmm? It'll cost us millions in compensation." Peter spat at him.

"He's got a point." Jenny said from the side, and Cutter whirled around in shock. She was supposed to be on _his_ side.

"What?" Cutter asked her, eyes wide.

"We don't want to cause unnecessary panic." Jenny told him sternly. Her expression booked no argument. She turned to Peter.

"How about we close off the paintballing area, and leave everything else open? How does that sound?" Jenny asked him, and dazzled him with a smile.

"I'll give you that?" Peter agreed, falling to her charms. He turned to Cutter and stuck something to his jacket.

"Now keep smiling. And if you say the words 'big cat' again, I'll sue you." He told Cutter, and turned to walk away. Valerie followed him, looking apologetic.

"I really want to kill him." Cutter growled after they were gone.

"Evacuate, and we've got a media meltdown. How am I supposed to keep a lid on that? What if the press stumbled into an anomaly in the woods?" Jenny demanded.

"Look, listen. This animal's going to kill again. It's inevitable."

"Perhaps. But I happen to think that running that risk is the lesser of two evils."

"Yes, and if we keep this open, people are going to die.

"Then it's your job to see they don't. It's my job to protect the integrity of this operation."

"At any cost?" Cutter asked her bluntly. Jenny gave him a look, the kind of look that said: _I hate it when you're right, but I still believe in what I said._

"Maybe we get lucky. Maybe the noise will keep the predator away. Cutter said, ripping the sticker off his jacket and sticking it to Jenny's cardigan before walking away.

* * *

In a playground on the edge of the wood, a woman was caring for her youngest child. There was the sound of children squabbling, and she looked up to see a little boy push a girl to the ground.

"You always have to spoil everything, don't you." The little boy said, and the young womancot to her feet. She walked over to the pair.

"I saw that." She said, and the little boy began to protest.

"What? That's not fair. She was doing it too." He said, pointing at the girl who was still on the ground.

"I saw what happened. Now say you're sorry." The young woman said as she helped the little girl to her feet. By now, the toddler was bored, and a rustling of some nearby bushes caught his attention. Curious, the toddler pushed himself to his feet and waddled toward the foliage to investigate. There was a loud, rumbling growl and the frightened toddler began to cry. His wails drew his mother to his side, and she lifted him up into here arms to sooth him. There was more rustling as the creature in the bushes withdrew, and the toddler narrowly missed becoming a mid-afternoon snack.

* * *

Cutter walked down one of the paths that separated the park frothat he wood until he joined Connor and Abby who were waiting by the 4x4. Abby was prepping a tranquilliser gun.

"These people shouldn't be here." Cutter said, clearly displeased. The radio crackled as Stephen reported in.

"Cutter." Stephen's voice was distorted by the walkie talkie. Cutter lifted the radio to his mouth.

"Stephen?" He asked.

"I've picked up a trail near an old farm. It's about a mile west of the paint balling area." Stephen told him. Cutter nodded to himself and turned around, back to the 4x4.

"Alright. We'll meet you there." Cutter confirmed, and looked to Abby who nodded.

"Abby, let's go." Cutter said. Abby handed Connor a walkie talkie, and Cutter looked him in the eye.

"Connor, keep an eye out. You see something suspicious, call me." He said, Connor nodded obediently. Cutter and Abby had turned to leave when a thought occurred to Connor.

"Hang on, What if I see something. Talk it to death?" Connor asked, sounding nervous. Cutter looked annoyed, but finally resigned himself to the inevitable and handed over the keys to the gun case.

"Here are the keys to the gun cases. Aspen should be here soon, so hopefully you wont need thses, but if you do - only as a last resort, you got it?" Cutter said, his tone serious.

"Loud and clear." Connor agreed. Cutter and Abby shared a look once more, before turning and running off into the forest. They ran for about half a mile before stopping to radio Stephen.

"Stephen. Have you seen anything?" Cutter asked, and the radio crackled as Stephen replied.

"Fresh tracks. I think it's doubled back on us." Stephen reported.

"You mean it's headed back to the park?" Cutter asked, worried.

"Looks that way." Stephen confirmed, and Abby and Cutter shared a horrified look.

* * *

Connor had made himself quite comfortable in a borrowed lifeguard's chair... Borrowed... That implies it's going to be given back. Scratch that: Connor had stolen a lifeguards chair, and made himself comfortable in it, enjoying the advantage that the height of the chair gave him. He could see a much wider area of the park. His phone beeped in his pocket and he pulled it out, expecting it to be Aspen, or an update from Cutter. It was Caroline.

'Where R U? Having fun?' The text read, and Connor smiled.

'No fun without you...' Connor sent in reply and sat back in the lifeguard's seat. His phone beeped again and he read the text with a smile. He was about to text back when a scream ripped through the placid park. Something was stalking the guests.

"Oh my god." Connor muttered, staring at the screaming children.

"Oh my god." Connor said again, jumping out of the chair and taking off at a run.

"Cutter!" Connor cried into the radio, veering left.

"Connor?" Cutter's voice sounded blurred over the radio as Connor ran full pelt down the path that led to the truck.

"There's a creature here! I'm going after it." Connor shouted into the radio as he reached the 4x4 and began fumbling with the keys. A few minutes later, Connor had the case open, and was pulling out a hunting rifle. He slammed the case shut and ran off toward the source of the panic, managing to further scare the guests as he went.

"Out the way!" Connor shouted, and the guests around him began screaming at the sight of the gun.

"Go go go! C'mon, get out the way!" Connor shouted,stopping to take aim in an attempt to use the crosshairs to get a better look at the 'creature'. He fired and missed, quickly moving on to find a better vantage point.

"Get out the way!" Connor shoute, desperately trying not to panic. He stopped to try and take aim again, but there were too many people in the way. He moved closer to the rustling bushes and raised the gun. All of a sudden, the park manager, Peter Camobell, burst out of the bushes in a lion suit. Connor swung the gun around, automatically taking aim before he could realise his mistake.

"Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot!" The man in the lion suit shouted, hands raised over his head. He paused as he recognized Connor.

"You! _You!_ You shot me! You shot me, look!" He screamed, indicating the bullet hole that went clean through the center of the lion mask's forehead. There was an awkward pause.

"You're alright though?" Connor asked him, worried.

"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT!? YOU SHOT ME!" Campbell screamed in frustration.

"Dude, Chill!. It could have been worse." Aspen told him, as she jogged over to defuse the situation.

"HOW?! HOW COULD IT HAVE BEEN WORSE?" Campbell shouted at her.

"I could have been the one with the gun." She told him, one eyebrow raised and Campbell seemed to shrink in on himself. Luckily for him, Cutter showed up with Jenny who was already prepared to try and placate the distressed man; Cutter almost looked amused when he saw Campbell shaking like a leaf, but wisely chose not to say anything. Finally, Campbell seemed to get a hold of himself and strode off down the wooden walkway. They followed him, waiting for the anger to spike - It didn't take long.

"I'm calling the police! I could have been killed!" Campbell raged, and Aspen rolled her eyes. Connor wasn't _that_ good of a shot.

"I'm afraid that won't do any good. I've already spoken to the police and they won't be taking any further action." Jenny told him, and if anything this seemed to enrage Campbell even more. He opened his mouth again, but Aspen got there first.

"What kind of idiot dresses up as a lion when people are on the alert for a man-eating big cat?" Aspen asked, and Campbell huffed. Connor stifled a snicker.

"What am I supposed to tell everybody?" Campbell asked, looking for a way out.

"Why don't you say it was a silly stunt gone wrong?" Cutter asked, looking back at Connor. Aspen could have sworn the man was enjoying this.

"And of course you must let us pay for the costume." Jenny added as they came to a stop on a small bridge. Campbell didn't look very satisfied.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got a train to catch." He told them.

"I have to be at the head office tonight to try and explain why _someone_ was _shooting_ at our guests." Campbell gave Connor a nasty look and walked off.

"I'm left wondering why he isn't explaining what he was doing in an animal suit." Aspen mused as she watched the man disappear into the crowd. She watched Connor turn to Jenny and Cutter, who just stared at him. It reminded her of a time that she'd seen a classmate be scolded by their parents. They didn't say anything, they just stared at him.

"It was an accident." Connor offered as a weak defence. Cutter and Jenny shared a look, before walking off; Aspen held back a laugh.

"Guys!" Connor called and looked at Aspen who was now watching the space behind him. He looked confused when she hastily backed up, until the water from the ride behind him soaked his feet and the bottom of his jeans.

"Not a word." Connor said through gritted teeth, and Aspen couldn't hold it back any longer - she started to laugh.

* * *

Abby hurried down the path between the woods and the park, a phone held to her ear. She dodged a number of guests and walked up to Cutter.

"It's Jenny." Abby said, pressing the phone to her shoulder.

"What?" Cutter asked.

"She says that the farm Stephen saw belongs to a man named West." Abby said, pausing before delivering the kicker.

"But get this, he used to import exotic animals. Lost his license a few years ago for illegally bringing in a pair of lion cubs for a private zoo." Cutter tensed up.

"Alright, let's go." He said, and turned to pack up. Behind him, Abby lifted the phone to her ear once more.

"He says he's on his way." She said into the phone. Cutter shuffled the set of maps together and bundled them into the back of the 4x4 as Abby turned to look at him.

"She says she'll meet you there." Abby told him, grinning.

"Why? Why is she coming?" Cutter demanded.

"Obviously doesn't trust you with the public." Abby said with a wry smile. Cutter pulled a face, causing Abby to laugh/

"Why is that funny?" He muttered as he climbed behind the wheel of the truck.

* * *

Cutter pulled up at West Farm, and climbed out, shutting the door of the truck quietly. He walked around the side of a barn cautiously, drawn to a separate barn by the sound of something growling. He walked toward it, peering forward to look through one of the cracks. Behind him, the farmer appears and Cutter jerked back, turning around to face him.

"What do you want?" The Farmer growled, clearly uncomfortable. Cutter seemed to stumble mentally, but quickly gathered himself.

"Uh... I'm from the James Lester Animal Foundation... You've probably heard of us, no? Ah, never mind." He told the farmer.

"We've been having a bit of bad luck lately, had to have one of our lions put down. I heard that you might be the man to help us replace it." The farmer stared at him, suspicious.

"I'm not in that game anymore." He told Cutter tensely. Cutter laughed.

"Well, you're not exactly going to be feeding chickens. With all that meat, are you?" Cutter said, gesturing to the pails full of meat that the farer had been carrying.

"What've you got in the barn?" Cutter asked, nodding at the building behind him.

"You have to leave now." The farmer said gruffly. Cutter didn't budge.

"Not until you show me what you've got in the barn." Cutter told him. The farmer put down the buckets that he had been holding and started toward Cutter.

"What -" This was all the farmer was able to growl out before Jenny appeared out of nowhere.

"Mr. West! Hi." Jenny was all smiles as she walked up to the farmer, Mr. West, and held out her hand.

"Jenny Lewis. Nice to meet you." She introduced herself. Mr. West did not look impressed, and didn't take her hand.

"I'm sorry about my colleague, I told him it was a dirty trick." Jenny said, with a wry smile.

"Trick?" Mr. West asked.

"Yeah, trying to catch you out like that." Jenny told him.

"We're from the ministry, you see. We had a report that you might have been going back into your old animal importing business." She said.

"That's rubbish." Mr. West said gruffly, and Jenny shot him a patronizing smile.

"Course it is. So it won't bother you, showing us what's in that barn, will it?" She said, looking pleased with herself. Cutter had to stifle a snort as Mr. West looked displeased.

"It's dogs, that's all." Mr. West said, trying to avoid opening the barn.

"Oh, I love dogs." Jenny said without missing a beat, and Mr. West frowned. Jenny seemed impossible to shake.

"Couldn't just have a quick peek, could we?" Jenny asked with yet another smile. Mr. West sighed and finally seemed to cave.

"You'd best stay back." Mr. West told her as he moved to unlock the door. Behind his back, Jenny shot Cutter a triumphant look.

"Unbelievable." Cutter mumbled as he moved out of Mr. West's way to stand next to Jenny. Mr. West opened the door, and a pair of German shepherds surged out, restrained by a set of long chains. They snarled and barked aggressively, causing Cutter to backpeddle quickly, pulling Jenny with him.

"I've been breeding them as pets." Mr. West told them.

"Pets?" Cutter asked, clearly not buying it.

"Guard dogs." Mr. West said, just a little bit smug as he watched a shaken Jenny try to gather herself. Cutter looked on in disbelief. After Raptors and a Gorgonopsid, German Shepherds weren't so bad.

"Well, thank you very much Mr. West. Sorry to have bothered you." Jenny said, backing away before turning to walk off. Cutter followed her.

"You're a flirt." Cutter told her once they were out of hearing distance.

"What?" Jenny asked.

"You. You were flirting with him." Cutter said again.

"I was just being friendly with him." Jenny said, and they shared a look. Jenny rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Well your way wasn't exactly working, was it." She said.

"I don't have the eyelashes for it." Cutter joked, and suddenly Jenny was tense and all business again.

"Listen. You do the creatures, I'll handle the people. Deal?" She said, holding out her hand. Cutter laughed, shook his head and walked away. Not a chance.

* * *

**16.02.2013**

**Any queries about the Aspen's Bluff Series should be directed to: _aspenwilder at gmail dot com_**

**Things I'd like to point out: **

**1) Aspen took off after informing Cutter of Helen's disappearance because she wanted to check in with a friend, and do some research on Helen's past. Yes, I am aware that she features little at the moment, but I'm working on that. Hopefully I'll be able to reveal where she goes and why without giving away too much after this season, as th next story is where things really start to kick off - I can assure you I have a kick in the teeth prepped for the finale.**

**2) Connor is an untidy little bugger - no matter how tasty he looks. (Right Ruby? :P)**

**3) I know I'm behind on my deadline, but the stupid school computers wiped out about 5-6 thousand words that I'd done the other day, even though I had saved it. It's almost as if the website was on a maintenance run, and nobody told me. Then I had a hard time writing the script down as everybody wanted my attention these past few weeks: My Mum, my dog, my sister... my boyfriend-who is-not-my-boyfriend-but-still-somehow-my-boyfriend (long story). On top of that, I dare you to try typing on an English Keyboard when your laptop is American. It's a right pain. I'm practically homicidal. -.-"**

**And to top it off - This was set to be released on Jan 31st - Since then I've been the unlucky recipient of a very nasty head cold/persistent Sinus infection. It has not been enjoyable - although, I did have a set of strange dreams thanks to them. It made me feel as though my head was stuffed with cotton wool, and that my stomach had been shrunk and twisted. Hopefully this half term shall aid me in getting a few more chapters out.**

**Oh, and would anybody be interested in a Sherlock parallel ft Aspen ? I was watching one of the episodes and thought.. I wonder how Aspen would handle Sherlock? Probably in a similar way to how she manages Connor, but different. ****Actually her name wouldn't be Aspen, and she's rather different. Flirty, witty, good at insulting people, and well.. a self-proclaimed nymphomaniac. ****Oh, and I'll probably do a Being Human Parallel as well at some point.**

**_Challenge:_**** Guess the reason behind Aspen's dislike of both Fez's, and Alarm Klaxon's.**

**_Prize:_**** A Cameo. Eg - You can be one of the bystanders, a family member of one of the team - OR, if you really want, I could persuade a dinosaur to eat you. You're choice.**

**Reminders:**

**1) Read and Review! I want an excuse to give out virtual cookies, or real ones if your lucky enough to go to school with me. :)**

**2) I'm editing Arguing With Time because my sister pointed out that the scenes jump about a tad erratically. She's never actually watched the original show, so she's helping me smooth things over.**

**3) As always the Bio has been updated.**

**4) I am now officially out of scripts to work with - so that mean's I'll be moving a little (read: a lot) slower than I'd have liked. I'm going to try and spend a few hours each evening on Sat and Sunday to watch, and copy out scripts from Episodes 3, 4 & 5 to work with this week, and then do Episodes 6 & 7 next weekend. Hopefully this story will be done by the end of next week, and then I can start on _Twisting the Wire _afterwards. That will be around 20 chapters and probably take maybe 5 weeks if I do 4 chapters a week. Please do remember that I have college to attend, and that means that I _do_ actually have to study no matter how much I hate it.**

* * *

**Aspen's bio:-**

**Name: **Aspen Faith Wilder,

**Nicknames: **"Penny", "Penn", "Asp".

**Age: **23, (born 1987).

**Height: **5 foot, 7 inches.

**Weight: **Unknown - She'd punch you if you asked.

**Family:** Marie Wilder [Mother - **Deceased**], Jacob Wilder [Father - **Deceased**], Annabelle Irwin [Aunt], Valerie Irwin [Cousin], Unnamed Uncle [**Spoilers for S3**], Connor Temple [Surrogate Brother], Nick Cutter [Surrogate Father], Unnamed Adoptive Brother [**Spoilers**].

**Weapon of Choice: **EMD _(The origins of this weapon are unknown.)_

**Affiliations: **Anomaly Response Team, Conner Temple.

**Enemies:** Future Predators, Helen Cutter.

**Likes:** Chinese food, Connor, Blankets, Explosives, Shiny things.

**DISlikes:** Raptors, Predators, Anything that tries to eat Connor.

**Abilities: **Intelligence, Music, Aspen is an expert marksman. _(This hints at possible military training, but is unconfirmed.)_

**Disabilities:** Asthma _(triggered by smoke),_ recovered from PTSD _(allegedly)._

**Fears: **Abandonment, Fez's, Red Alarm Klaxon's, Future Predators. _(Reasons are implied, but not confirmed.)_

**Incursions handled to date:** Gorgonopsid _(1.1)_, Coelurosauravus **[Rex]** _(1.1)_, Scutosaurus _(1.1)_, Arthropleura _(1.2)_, Protosolpugidae _(1.2)_, Mosasaur _(1.3)_, Hesperonis _(1.3)_, Dodo _(1.4)_, Parasite _(1.4)_, Pterosaur _(1.5)_, Pteranodon _(1.5)_, Future Predator _(1.6)_, Raptor _(2.1)_, Precambrian Worm _(2.2)_.

**History: **As far as the official records go. Aspen was orphaned at age 9 on a camping trip in Anglesea, where she saw her parents die. After being released from hospital, she went to live with her aunt (Annabelle Irwin) and older cousin (Valerie Irwin), who reported that she displayed nervous habits such as being jumpy, sensitive to sound, and would react like a frightened animal when touched unexpectedly. She would have nightmares, seemed to be emotionally numb and could not seem to focus. (These are classic symptoms of PTSD.) Her aunt made her go to therapy sessions, but she never responded.

When she was 12, she disappeared, and then reappeared at the age of 16, saying that she had been with friends, who she would not name. Initial reviews showed her to be healthy, and even completely recovered from her PTSD. All attempts at discovering where she had been were rebuffed or pushed to the side. Eventually, at 19, she moved out and went to college where she met Connor a year later, when he hid her from a rather persistent boy who wanted a date. They formed a sibling bond, and that was that.

Later, she and Connor helped found the ARC along with Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, Abby Maitland and James Lester.


End file.
